1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The current study was designed to pursue four objectives. The first objective was to explore [...] the number of distinct homogeneous groups of CSA [child sexual abuse] survivors based on the coordination of the sexual and attachment systems and to compare these survivors’ groups and a nonvictim group on the four continuous variables used to create profiles: attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, sexual compulsion, and sexual avoidance. […] The second objective of the study was to determine the proportion of women and men in these profiles. The third objective of this investigation was to examine whether some of these distinct profiles of CSA survivors were characterized by higher rates of CSA severity and higher rates of other cumulative child maltreatment experiences. The fourth objective was to compare these profiles and a nonvictim group on personal and couple distress.» (p. 357)

Questions/Hypothèses :
Regarding the first objective, «[w]e hypothesized that anxious attachment would cluster with sexual compulsion in a first group of CSA survivors because sexual compulsion refers to anxious sexual intrusive preoccupations. Likewise, we propose that avoidant attachment will cluster with sexual avoidance to form a second group.» (p. 357)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The present sample [consists] of adult French-Canadian women and men.» (p. 357) The sample includes 324 CSA survivors and «484 participants [who] did not report any child maltreatment experience.» (p. 358)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«[T]he results of this study […] suggest that adult survivors of child sexual abuse do not form a homogeneous group. When attachment and sexual outcomes are studied simultaneously, two distinct profiles of CSA survivors emerge. First, a subgroup formed mostly by anxious individuals reporting no significant sexual problems, and second, a subgroup of fearfully attached individuals showing a complex pattern of sexual ambivalence, with victims reporting both sexual compulsion and sexual avoidance.» (p. 364) «CSA survivors from both groups were mainly women who reported multiple abusive incidents involving a family member and who also experienced other forms of child maltreatment. However, although these effects were small, the Fearful Attachment and Sexual Ambivalence group included slightly more men, incidents of penetration, cases of extrafamilial abuse, co-occurring psychological abuse, and exposure to parental violence compared to the Preoccupied profile. One could cautiously conclude that CSA survivors from the [second] profile have faced more complex forms of traumatic exposure and thus present the more complicated pattern of sexual reactions observed in a smaller proportion of adult survivors of CSA (Courtois & Ford, 2009). The available past evidence of a dose-response association between CSA severity and negative attachment outcomes (Allen & Fonagy, 2015) is consistent with our observation that CSA survivors from Fearful Attachment and Sexual Ambivalence profile reported more psychological and couple distress than preoccupied CSA survivors.» (p. 364-365)