Childhood sexual abuse and attachment insecurities as predictors of women's own and perceived-partner extradyadic involvement

We examined the association between self-reported childhood sexual abuse and a woman's own and perceived-partner extradyadic involvement (EDI). The association was examined both directly and as potentially mediated by attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in a sample of 807 French Canadian women. In line with our hypotheses, we found that a personal history of CSA is associated with a woman's own and perceived-partner EDI and with the woman's levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance. The association between CSA and own EDI was partially mediated by attachment-related avoidance. The results suggest that a sense of betrayal stemming from CSA predisposes a woman to avoidance, which in turn predisposes her to EDI. The association between CSA and perceived-partner EDI was partially mediated by both attachment anxiety and avoidance. These results suggest that victims of CSA become suspicious of others’ relational behavior and intentions, which contribute to attachment-related anxiety and avoidance and both own and perceived-partner EDI.