TY - JOUR
T1 - Child maltreatment history and subsequent romantic relationships
T2 - Exploring a psychological route to dyadic difficulties
AU - DiLillo, David
AU - Lewis, Terri
AU - Di Loreto-Colgan, Andrea
N1 - Funding Information:
David DiLillo’s work is funded in part by a NIMH grant exploring associations between childhood abuse history and adult marital and parent-child functioning.
PY - 2007/11/1
Y1 - 2007/11/1
N2 - A sample of 174 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships was studied to investigate the role of psychological distress in mediating links between child maltreatment (CM) history and current couple functioning. Females, but not males, with a history of CM reported greater levels of psychological and relationship difficulties than did non-maltreated women. Psychological distress among females was also found to mediate associations between abuse history and various aspects of couple functioning including intimacy, sexuality, and conflict resolution. No such relationships were found for males. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.
AB - A sample of 174 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships was studied to investigate the role of psychological distress in mediating links between child maltreatment (CM) history and current couple functioning. Females, but not males, with a history of CM reported greater levels of psychological and relationship difficulties than did non-maltreated women. Psychological distress among females was also found to mediate associations between abuse history and various aspects of couple functioning including intimacy, sexuality, and conflict resolution. No such relationships were found for males. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.
KW - Abuse
KW - Child maltreatment
KW - Couples
KW - Dating
KW - Gender differences
KW - Psychological distress
KW - Sexual abuse
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=36448936449&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1300/J146v15n01_02
DO - 10.1300/J146v15n01_02
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:36448936449
SN - 1092-6771
VL - 15
SP - 19
EP - 36
JO - Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma
JF - Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma
IS - 1
ER -