@article{ref1,
title="The roles of shame and poor self-concept in explaining low social connection among adult survivors of childhood emotional maltreatment",
journal="Psychological trauma: theory, research, practice, and policy",
year="2023",
author="Archuleta, William P. and Kaminski, Patricia L. and Ross, Nicholas D.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Emotional maltreatment (EM) is the most common retrospectively self-reported form of child abuse/neglect. One potential negative outcome for EM survivors is a lack of social connection (SC; i.e., feeling interpersonally distant from others, socially uncomfortable, etc.). Explanations of the link between EM and low SC, however, are insufficiently tested. Theory and empirical work point to shame as a ubiquitous consequence of EM that negatively affects self-concept and is also associated with low SC in adulthood. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: We test the hypothesis that experiences of EM lead to shame that impairs the development of social self-concept and, ultimately, one's sense of SC. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: We collected self-report data from 244 American college students. <br><br>METHOD: Using structural equation modeling, we tested shame and social self-concept as sequential mediators of the path from EM to SC. <br><br>RESULTS: Shame and social self-concept mediated the relationship between EM and SC, bringing this direct path below significance. Social self-concept partially mediated shame and SC. Overall, our model accounted for 77% of the variability in SC. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Children subjected to EM by caregivers are likely to experience themselves as deeply flawed (i.e., shame) and have difficulty developing a secure sense of themselves, especially as relational beings. Our results suggest that when shame interferes with the development of a positive social self-concept, survivors of EM are at-risk for low SC. Treatment implications include a focus on healing shame and building social self-concept. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1942-9681",
doi="10.1037/tra0001559",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0001559"
}