Abstract
As emotional security theory has recently been extended to understand recovery from interpersonal violence, the present study aimed to understand whether and to what extent trauma-specific aspects of the family environment (caregiver responses to disclosure, non-disclosure) and more general aspects of the family environment (interparental conflict, parental invalidation of emotions) explained variance in emotional security in the family in a sample of emerging adults with a history of interpersonal violence (physical or sexual abuse or assault). Results indicated that substantiated aspects of the interparental subsystem (interparental conflict) and parent–child subsystem (parental invalidation of emotions) predicted all three aspects of emotional security (preoccupation, disengagement, and security) in regression models where trauma-specific variables were included. Additionally, non-supportive caregiver response to disclosed trauma also accounted for significant variance in felt security, supporting the idea that problematic caregiver responses to traumatic events can erode emotional security for survivors of interpersonal violence, in addition to broader patterns in the interparental and parent–child subsystems.
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Author Contributions
L.J.S. designed and executed the study (one site), conducted the analyses, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. J.W. designed and executed the study (one site) and wrote part of the discussion. M.H. assisted with data collection, worked on the tables, and collaborated in the literature review and writing of the final manuscript.
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The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest in the design, implementation, or dissemination of this research project. All procedures of this study were approved by and carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the Institutional Review Boards of our institutions. All participants were fully informed of the purpose of the study, risks and benefits of participation, and other pertinent study information before they were asked to participate and were fully informed that there would be no repercussions if they chose not to participate or wanted to terminate participation at any time.
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Jobe-Shields, L., Williams, J. & Hardt, M. Predictors of Emotional Security in Survivors of Interpersonal Violence. J Child Fam Stud 26, 2834–2842 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0799-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0799-0