Hudson Anna R, De Coster Lize, Spoormans Hanne, Verbeke Sylvia, Van der Jeught Kaat, Brass Marcel, Mueller Sven C
Ghent University, Belgium.
University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Dec;36(23-24):NP13254-NP13274. doi: 10.1177/0886260520906190. Epub 2020 Feb 15.
Experience of childhood abuse (CA) impairs complex social functioning in children; however, much less is known about its effects on basic sociocognitive processes and even fewer studies have investigated these in adult survivors. Using two behavioral tasks, this study investigated spontaneous theory of mind (ToM) and imitative behavior in 41 women with CA and 26 unaffected comparison (UC) women. In the spontaneous ToM task, UCs showed a larger ToM index than CAs, indicating more facilitation by knowledge of another's false belief. In the imitation-inhibition task, CAs experienced less interference than UCs when observing another's incongruent movements. After controlling for depression, differences in ToM became marginally significant, yet remained highly significant for inhibiting imitative behavior. The findings suggest CA survivors have altered perspective-taking and are less influenced by others' perspectives, potentially due to changes in self-other distinction. Clinical implications regarding therapeutic practice with survivors of CA are discussed.
童年期受虐经历（CA）会损害儿童的复杂社交功能；然而，对于其对基本社会认知过程的影响却知之甚少，而且针对成年幸存者进行此类研究的更是少之又少。本研究通过两项行为任务，对41名有童年期受虐经历的女性和26名未受影响的对照（UC）女性的自发心理理论（ToM）和模仿行为进行了调查。在自发心理理论任务中，对照组成员的心理理论指数高于有童年期受虐经历的成员，这表明对他人错误信念的了解更能促进心理理论发展。在模仿抑制任务中，有童年期受虐经历的成员在观察他人不一致动作时，受到的干扰比对照组少。在控制了抑郁因素后，心理理论的差异变得微显著，但在抑制模仿行为方面仍非常显著。研究结果表明，童年期受虐经历的幸存者在换位思考方面有所改变，且受他人观点的影响较小，这可能是由于自我与他人区分的变化所致。文中还讨论了对童年期受虐经历幸存者进行治疗的临床意义。
