Child Sexual Abuse and Suicidal Ideation: The Differential Role of Attachment and Emotional Security in the Family System

David Cantón-Cortés, María Rosario Cortés and José Cantón
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David Cantón-Cortés: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
María Rosario Cortés: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
José Cantón: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of attachment style and emotional security in the family system on suicidal ideation in a sample of young adult female victims of child sexual abuse (CSA). The possible effects of CSA characteristics and other types of child abuse on suicidal ideation were controlled for. The sample consisted of 188 female college students who had been victims of sexual abuse before the age of 18, as well as 188 randomly selected participants who had not experienced CSA. The results showed that both attachment and emotional security were associated with suicidal ideation, even when controlling for both the characteristics of abuse and the existence of other abuses. The strong relationships of emotional security and attachment style with suicidal ideation suggest the importance of early intervention with children who have been sexually abused and their families, in an effort to optimize their attachment style, as well as to decrease emotional insecurity to prevent the onset of symptomatology related to suicidal ideation.

Keywords: child sexual abuse; suicidal ideation; attachment; emotional security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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