ABSTRACT

Childhood abuse has been suggested to potentiate a maladaptive developmental trajectory, leaving adolescents and young adults at risk for mental health and romantic relationship problems. It has been suggested that mental health problems mediate the relationship between childhood abuse and young adult romantic relationship functioning; however, there are few prospective studies. The objective of the current study was to examine the effects of childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse on posttraumatic stress symptoms in adolescence, and relationship quality, intimacy, companionship, and conflict in young adult’s romantic relationships. Using data from the Longitudinal Studies of Childhood Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), a sample of 313 racially diverse adolescents were used. Using structural equation modeling, it was found that dissociation mediated the relationship between physical abuse and relationship quality, but in the opposite direction of what was expected. Additionally, anger mediated the relationship from both physical and sexual abuse to conflict. Childhood abuse appears to influence young adult relationship functioning through mental health problems in mid-adolescence, particularly anger and dissociation. These results are consistent with the notion that children who were abused may struggle in romantic relationships in young adulthood and addressing mental health problems in adolescence may a point of intervention.

摘要

有人认为童年虐待会加剧适应不良的发展轨迹，使青少年和年轻人面临心理健康和恋爱关系问题的风险。有人提出心理健康问题介导了童年虐待和年轻成人浪漫关系功能之间的关系；然而，很少有前瞻性研究。本研究的目的是检查儿童期身体虐待、性虐待和情感虐待对青春期创伤后应激症状的影响，以及年轻人浪漫关系中的关系质量、亲密、陪伴和冲突。使用来自儿童虐待和忽视纵向研究 (LONGSCAN) 的数据，使用了 313 名不同种族青少年的样本。使用结构方程建模，研究发现，分离在身体虐待和关系质量之间起到中介作用，但与预期相反。此外，愤怒调节了从身体虐待和性虐待到冲突的关系。童年虐待似乎通过青春期中期的心理健康问题，特别是愤怒和分离，影响年轻人的关系运作。这些结果与被虐待的儿童可能在成年早期在恋爱关系中挣扎并且在青春期解决心理健康问题可能是干预点的观点是一致的。童年虐待似乎通过青春期中期的心理健康问题，特别是愤怒和分离，影响年轻人的关系运作。这些结果与被虐待的儿童可能在成年早期在恋爱关系中挣扎并且在青春期解决心理健康问题可能是干预点的观点是一致的。童年虐待似乎通过青春期中期的心理健康问题，特别是愤怒和分离，影响年轻人的关系运作。这些结果与被虐待的儿童可能在成年早期在恋爱关系中挣扎并且在青春期解决心理健康问题可能是干预点的观点是一致的。