1 The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA.
2 Barry University, Miami Shores, FL, USA.
Trauma Violence Abuse. 2017 Oct;18(4):433-444. doi: 10.1177/1524838015627147. Epub 2016 Jan 25.
Sexual violence continues to be a significant public health problem affecting significant portions of the population. Unfortunately, an agreed upon theory of etiology remains elusive leading to challenges in developing effective prevention and treatment interventions. Recently, there is a growing body of literature examining the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the development of sexually violent behavior. This research has begun to explore the rates of various types of child maltreatments and family dysfunction in individuals who have been convicted of a sexual crime. These empirical inquiries have been primarily descriptive in nature and have not yet provided a cohesive theoretical model as to why the presence of ACEs might contribute to sexually abusive behavior. This article suggests that attachment theory offers an explanatory link between early adversity and sexually abusive behavior in adulthood. We first summarize important attachment theory concepts, then integrate them with research in the area of developmental psychopathology and ACEs, and finally propose a model by which attachment can be used as an explanatory theory for subsequent sexualized coping and sexually abusive behaviors. Finally, this article explores the implications for practice, policy, and research using this explanatory theory as a framework for understanding sexual violence.
性暴力仍然是一个严重的公共卫生问题，影响着很大一部分人群。不幸的是，目前仍然缺乏一个公认的病因理论，这导致了开发有效预防和治疗干预措施的挑战。最近，越来越多的文献研究了不良童年经历（ACEs）在发展性暴力行为中的作用。这项研究开始探讨在被判犯有性犯罪的个体中，各种类型的儿童虐待和家庭功能障碍的发生率。这些实证研究主要是描述性的，尚未提供一个连贯的理论模型，说明为什么 ACEs 的存在可能导致性虐待行为。本文认为，依恋理论提供了一个解释早期逆境与成年人性虐待行为之间关系的链接。我们首先总结了重要的依恋理论概念，然后将它们与发展心理病理学和 ACEs 领域的研究相结合，最后提出了一个模型，通过该模型可以将依恋用作后续性应对和性虐待行为的解释理论。最后，本文探讨了在实践、政策和研究中使用这一解释性理论作为理解性暴力的框架的意义。
