Empathic Understanding in Couples with a Female Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Abstract
Research documenting the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is abundant. However, the majority of such research has focused on intraindividual consequences and has only generally identified interpersonal functioning as an area of disturbance. Studies that examine relationship functioning using couples as participants, rather than survivors only, are particularly scarce. The present study investigated levels of emotional attunement in a sample of couples with and without a CSA history. Results suggest an interesting pattern in which women with a history of CSA are less empathically accurate than are nonabused women, while their partners are more empathically accurate than are control partners. Therapists are urged to address this unique dynamic that distinguishes CSA couples from other distressed couples.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Women's CSA was related to their partner's higher emotional numbing during an in-lab conflictual discussion (Millwood, 2011).
“Women’s CSA was related to their partner’s higher emotional numbing during an in-lab conflictual discussion (Millwood, 2011)”
From Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Millwood, 2011
Women's CSA was related to their partner's higher empathic accuracy for overall feeling state during an in-lab conflictual discussion (Millwood, 2011).
“women’s CSA was related to their partner’s higher empathic accuracy for overall feeling state during an in-lab conflictual discussion (Millwood, 2011)”
From Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Millwood, 2011
Cites
Child abuse trauma: theory and treatment of the lasting effects
(1993) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.30-5867 · Cited by 832 · see citing works
Long-term correlates of child sexual abuse: Theory and review of the empirical literature
Polusny, M. A., & Follette, V. M. (1995) · Applied and Preventive Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0962-1849(05)80055-1 · Cited by 777 · see citing works
Ickes, W. J. (1993) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1993.tb00783.x · Cited by 460 · see citing works
Perspectives on marital interaction
Noller, P., & Fitzpatrick, M. A. (1988) · Cited by 454 · see citing works
The impact of child sexual abuse on adult interpersonal functioning
Davis, J. L., & Petretic-Jackson, P. A. (2000) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/s1359-1789(99)00010-5 · Cited by 285 · see citing works
When the head protects the heart: Empathic accuracy in dating relationships.
Simpson, J. A., Ickes, W. J., & Blackstone, T. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.629 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Makinen, J. A., & Johnson, S. M. (2006) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.74.6.1055 · Cited by 264 · cited 1× · see citing works
“It has also been argued that avoidance and numbing are natural responses to various kinds of traumatic injury (e.g., abandonment, betrayal) within close relationships, and that this numbing process interferes with emotional attunement between partners (Makinen & Johnson, 2006).”
BackgroundPosttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuse: A general population study
Elliott, D. M., & Briere, J. (1995) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1007/bf02102892 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Treating difficult couples: Helping clients with coexisting mental and relationship disorders.
Snyder, D. K., & Whisman, M. A. (2003) · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Managing empathic accuracy in close relationships
Ickes, W. J., & Simpson, J. A. (1997) · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Perceptions of Couple Functioning Among Female Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
DiLillo, D., & Long, P. J. (1999) · Journal of Child Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1300/j070v07n04_05 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Ickes, W. J., Buysse, A., PHAM, H., RIVERS, K., Erickson, J. R., Hancock, M., Kelleher, J., & Gesn, P. R. (2000) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2000.tb00013.x · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Harway, M. (2004) · Cited by 65 · see citing works
The long‐term effects of sexual abuse: A review and synthesis
Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (1991) · New Directions for Mental Health Services · doi:10.1002/yd.23319915103 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Integrating marital and individual therapy for incest survivors: A case study.
Johnson, S. M. (1989) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/h0085411 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE AND COUPLES' RELATIONSHIPS: FEMALE SURVIVORS' REPORTS IN THERAPY GROUPS
Pistorello, J., & Follette, V. M. (1998) · Journal of Marital and Family Therapy · doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.1998.tb01101.x · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Treating victims of child sexual abuse
Briere, J. (1991) · Jossey-Bass eBooks · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Vaillancourt-Morel, M.-P., Bussières, È.-L., Nolin, M.-C., & Daspe, M.-È. (2024) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380231173427 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“M ill w oo d ( 2011 ) 59 h e t e r o s e xu a l c o up l e s ( 31 .”
BackgroundInfluentialGender, Power, and Trust in Couple Therapy With Survivors of Childhood Abuse
Wells, M. A. (2015) · Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy · doi:10.1080/15332691.2014.962210 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Couple Therapy with Adult Survivors of Child Abuse: Gender, Power, and Trust
Wells, M. A., & Kuhn, V. P. (2015) · SpringerBriefs in family therapy · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-13398-0_9 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Laughlin, C. F., & Rusca, K. A. (2019) · The Family Journal · doi:10.1177/1066480719894938 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Wells, M. A., Lobo, E., Galick, A., Knudson‐Martin, C., Huenergardt, D., & Schaepper, H. (2017) · Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy · doi:10.1080/15332691.2016.1238795 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Abused Children and their Relationships as Adults
Rokach, A., & MacFarlane, K. (2021) · Psychology and Mental Health Care · doi:10.31579/2637-8892/144 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Gender, Power, and Trust Issues in Couple Therapy with Adult-Survivor Couples
Wells, M. A. (2015) · ProQuest Demo Repository
The effects of ACE on intimate relationships
Rokach, A., & Clayton, S. (2023) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-85853-3.00007-0
- Authors
- Millwood, M.
- Affiliations
- Saint Michael's College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Millwood, Molly
- Venue
- Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2011-10
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 327-344
- ISSN
- 1533-2683 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-2691
- OpenAlex
- W2073373582
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- child sexual abuse, empathic understanding, emotional attunement, couples, relationship functioning, empathic accuracy, women survivors, long-term effects of abuse, interpersonal functioning
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
