NCJ Number
210248
Journal
Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: 2005 Pages: 95-123
Date Published
2005
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This study examined links between emotional abuse and emotional awareness.
Abstract
Participants were 80 (50 women and 30 men) university students enrolled in introductory psychology or linguistics courses. The study focused on the ways that childhood emotional abuse impacted current psychological functioning, especially levels of emotional awareness, by measuring level of alexithymia (lack of words for feelings). The study hypothesized that alexithymia positively correlates with levels of emotional abuse, even when controlling for substance use and lifetime trauma, and negatively correlates with abuse acknowledgement. Survey packets solicited information on demographics and perceptions of each abuse subtype (physical, sexual, and emotional); and it used instruments to measure alexithymia, posttraumatic symptoms, drug and alcohol use, symptoms of anxiety and depression, subjective perceptions of the degree of stress or trauma present in his/her childhood, and the frequency of childhood emotional abuse experiences in an average year. Emotional abuse and neglect significantly positively correlated with difficulty in identifying feelings, even after controlling for participants' depression, anxiety, dissociation, and lifetime trauma. Few subjects self-identified as having been "abused," even among those reporting abuse experiences. Cognitive, therapeutic, and research implications are discussed. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 88 references.