Stressors and close relationships during childhood and dissociative experiences in survivors of sexual abuse among inpatient psychiatric women.

The purpose of this study was to examine which childhood events were associated with more extensive use of adult dissociative states in 90 female inpatients with histories of sexual abuse. The study found that childhood stressors of maltreatment (physical neglect, witnessing sexual abuse, and witnessing physical abuse) were associated with higher levels of dissociative symptoms. In contrast, childhood stressors of loss (parental separation and death of a close relative) were not related to increased severity of dissociative symptoms. The study also demonstrated that a close relationship with either a parent, sibling, extraparental adult, or friend did not have a mediating effect on the degree of adult dissociative symptoms. Directions for future research are presented.