Child Maltreatment Adolescent Attachment Style a

Authors: Jonathan A Weiss Jennifer MacMullin Randall Waechter Christine Wekerle The MAP Research Team

Publish Date: 2011/04/14

Volume: 9, Issue: 5, Pages: 555-576

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Abstract

One of the most salient developmental tasks of adolescence is the entry into romantic relationship which often involves developing attachments to partners Adolescents with a history of maltreatment have been found to be at greater risk of insecure attachments to romantic partners than nonmaltreated adolescents and the interaction of maltreatment and insecure attachment style has been linked to dating violence The current study examined attachment styles and dating violence in child welfareinvolved adolescents with borderlinetomild intellectual disability n = 40 and with average IQ n = 116 Despite reporting similar experiences of childhood maltreatment IQ was found to interact with avoidant attachment style to predict the degree of dating violence victimization and perpetration experienced by youth It is suggested that an avoidant attachment style is a risk factor for all maltreated youth and holds a particularly strong effect on youth with lower IQ levels These findings highlight the need for developmentally appropriate attachment and dating violence interventions for maltreated youthMAP Longitudinal Study Principal Investigator Christine Wekerle Coinvestigators and collaborators include in alphabetical order Michael Boyle McMaster University Deborah Goodman Children’s Aid Society of Toronto Bruce Leslie Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto Eman Leung St Michael’s Hospital Harriet MacMillan McMaster University Brenda Moody Peel Children’s Aid Society Lil Tonmyr Public Health Agency of Canada Nico Trocmé McGill University Randall Waechter McMaster University AnneMarie Wall York University deceased Abby Goldstein OISE/University of Toronto Jonathan Weiss York UniversityWe thank the youth participants MAP advisory board members community agencies and the MAP research support staff especially Ronald Chung Acknowledgement of MAP Longitudinal Study funding extends to 1 Canadian Institutes of Health Research CIHR VGH63212 74547 Institute of Gender and Health IGH 2 the Provincial Centre of Excellence in Child and Youth Mental Health at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario 341 the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Centre of Excellence in Child Welfare and 3 the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services 124 This work was supported in part by a midcareer award from CIHR IGH and the Ontario Women’s Health Council 100079 and an Interchange Canada Assignment to the Public Health Agency of Canada to Dr Wekerle Dr Weiss’ work was supported by a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation

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