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Cited by 65Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsChild Abuse and TraumaPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Disorganized attachment in young adulthood as a partial mediator of relations between severity of childhood abuse and dissociation

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Byun, Sooyeon, Brumariu, Laura E., Lyons-Ruth, Karlen·2016·Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
DOI 10.1080/15299732.2016.1141149PMC PMC5004628
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Abstract

Disorganized attachment has been proposed as a mediating mechanism in the relation between childhood abuse and dissociation. However, support for mediation has been mixed when interview or self-report measures of attachment have been used. In the current work, relations among severity of abuse, attachment disorganization, and dissociation were assessed in young adulthood using both interview and interaction-based measures of attachment. A total of 112 low-income young adults were assessed for socioeconomic stresses, abusive experiences in childhood, and attachment disorganization at age 20. Attachment disorganization was assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview, coded independently for Unresolved states of mind and for Hostile-Helpless states of mind. Attachment disorganization was also measured using a newly validated assessment of young adult-parent interaction during a conflict discussion. Mediation analyses revealed that the link between childhood abuse and dissociation was partially explained by disturbances in young adult-parent interaction. Narrative disturbances on the Adult Attachment Interview were related to abuse and to dissociation but did not mediate the link between the two. Results are discussed in relation to the role of parent-child communication processes in pathways to dissociation.

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  • Attachment disorganization and emotion dysregulation both have been shown to be related to pathological dissociation.

    “Attachment disorganization [15, 115, 119] and emotion dysregulation [68, 69, 119, 188] both have been shown to be related to pathological dissociation.”

    From Complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Results section reports associations between disorganized-attachment indicators and dissociative symptoms. The Discussion links emotion regulation to dissociation conceptually, but the paper does not report a measured association between emotion dysregulation and dissociation. It also cautions that most participants did not have pathological levels of dissociation; page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Among young adults, disorganized attachment interactions with a parent mediate the relationship between child abuse history and pathological dissociation.

    “Among young adults, disorganized attachment interactions with a parent were shown to mediate the relationship between child abuse history and pathological dissociation [15].”

    From Complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder (2021) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Results report that young adult–parent interaction partially mediated the link between childhood abuse and current dissociation, with disorientation making a unique contribution. But the Discussion says dissociation was measured continuously in a non-clinical sample and only 11 participants had pathological levels; the study does not establish mediation specifically for pathological dissociation. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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1 of the 49 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Lyons-Ruth K Hennighausen K Holmes B 2005 Goal-corrected partnership in young adulthood coding system (GPACS): Coding manual Version 2. Unpublished document Harvard Medical School Cambridge, MA
  2. Lyons–Ruth K Melnick S Atwood G Yellin C 2003 Pervasively unintegrated hostile–helpless states of mind on the Adult Attachment Interview: Classification and coding manual version 3.0 Unpublished document Harvard Medical School Cambridge, MA
  3. Putnam FW 1997 Dissociation in children and young adults New York, NY Guilford Press

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Authors
Byun, S., Brumariu, L. E., & Lyons-Ruth, K.
Affiliations
  • Hongik University (KR)
  • Adelphi University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2016-02-02
Volume
17
Issue
4
Pages
460-479
ISSN
  • 1529-9732 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-9740
DOI
10.1080/15299732.2016.1141149
PMC
PMC5004628
OpenAlex
W2281363745
Cited by
65
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1
FWCI
3.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Trauma & Dissociation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (062030, Clinical Research Training Program Postdoctoral Fe, R01MH06030)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
disorganized attachment, childhood abuse, dissociation, mediation, early adulthood, Adult Attachment Interview, parent-child interaction, conflict discussions, socioeconomic stress, low-income young adults
MeSH terms
Cross-Sectional Studies, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Trauma Severity Indices, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, Young Adult

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