Citation

Freedenfeld RN, Ornduff SR, Kelsey RM. J. Pers. Assess. 1995; 64(3): 552-568.

Affiliation

University of North Texas, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Society for Personality Assessment, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7760261

Abstract

Selected Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943) stories of 39 physically abused children and a clinical group of 39 children with no recorded history of abuse were examined using the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scales (Westen, Lohr, Silk, Kerber, & Goodrich, 1985). As predicted, a history of physical abuse was associated with a more malevolent object world; a lower level capacity for emotional investment in relations and moral standards; and less accurate, complex, and logical attributions of causality in understanding human interaction. These impairments in object relations were manifest both as a typical level of functioning and as a propensity for more grossly pathological functioning. Results are discussed in terms of clinical and theoretical implications.

Language: en