Attachment as a mechanism between childhood maltreatment and subclinical psychotic phenomena: Results from an eight-year follow-up study

Abstract

We previously reported that fearful attachment mediated associations of childhood maltreatment with subclinical psychotic phenomena. At an eight-year follow-up, we aimed to replicate and extend this finding by examining the mediating role of disorganized attachment. Participants were 169 young adults who completed baseline and eight-year follow-up questionnaires. Physical/emotional maltreatment was prospectively associated with paranoid beliefs and positive schizotypy. For paranoid beliefs, fearful and disorganized attachment were significant mediators in separate models, whereas only disorganized was significant when examining all attachment styles concurrently. For positive schizotypy, no mediation was found. Findings support psychological models of paranoia and may inform intervention efforts.

Keywords: Attachment style; Childhood trauma; Paranoia; Psychotic-like experiences; Schizotypy.