Family environment, love withdrawal, childhood sexual abuse, and adult attachment

This survey of GO male and 65 female undergraduates tested predictions based on adult attachment and structural family theories about family environment, sexual abuse, and adult attachment. Survey packets contained the Love Withdrawal Scale, Family Structure Survey, Family Environment Scale, and Experiences in Close Relationships Scale. Memories of parents' highly contingent caregiving (love withdrawal) were related to both adult attachment anxiety and avoidance and accounted for 14% of the variance in avoidance beyond other family variables. For men memories of low family warmth and responsiveness were related to adult attachment anxiety and avoidance, whereas for women memories of violation of structural family boundaries were related to anxiety and avoidance, Women who reported incestuous sexual abuse exhibited more adult attachment avoidance than those who did not report abuse and those who had been sexually abused by a nonfamily member. Hypotheses about connections between specific kinds of family dysfunction and specific adult attachment problems received only modest support.