The role of embodied sense of self in the relationship of childhood abuse types to distress and fear

Abstract

Theoretical models suggest that childhood abuse erodes embodied sense of self (ESS), a multidimensional entity that encompasses both subjective embodied experience and narrative identity. However, no studies have evaluated the impacts of childhood abuse types on the minimal and narrative selves simultaneously or examined the role of this integrated sense of self in the relationship of childhood abuse to psychopathology. The present cross-sectional study investigated ESS as a mediator from childhood emotional abuse (CEA), childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and childhood physical abuse (CPA) to fear and distress in a sample of 610 undergraduate students. Indirect paths were estimated through overall ESS, and through the individual domains of ownership, agency, and narrative. Disturbances to ESS mediated the relationship of both CEA and CPA to fear and distress, with particularly robust indirect paths observed for CEA. CEA demonstrated strong effects on all three ESS domains, while more modest paths appeared from CSA to narrative and from CPA to ownership and agency. Significant indirect effects emerged from both CEA and CPA through agency to distress, and from CEA and CSA through narrative to distress and fear. In both models, direct paths remained from CEA and CSA to distress only. These findings suggest that childhood abuse undermines the formation of an integrated sense of self, and that role of ESS in the pathway from childhood abuse to internalizing symptomatology may be restricted to the agency and narrative domains. Additional research should clarify the mechanisms by which childhood abuse types may disrupt ESS.