Attachment Barriers to a Relationship with God; A Phenomenological Study of Women with the Lived Experience of Adolescent Sexual Assault

Among victims of sexual assault, it is significantly common for maladaptive attachment behaviors to manifest from this type of trauma which can transcend not just human relationships but their relationship with God as well. The problem is that sexual assault brutally attacks the core of a woman’s worth and value creating barriers that drastically affect her ability to develop healthy attachment with others which subsequently affects her ability to form and develop a positive relationship with God. The resulting attachment behaviors of sexual assault victims are important to study to be able to understand the root components of this trauma that negatively affect the individual’s ability to form healthy attachments. By discovering these connections, a theory can be implemented to reconstruct these effects with positive attachments that can then be transferred onto the individual’s ability to form a healthy attachment and fulfilling relationship with God. Attachment theory provides a useful framework for understanding the association between sexual violence and adult romantic relationship functioning. However, current research does not address the adolescent experience of sexual assault to understand the impact on pubescent girls and how that differs from the impact of the same experience during a different stage of life, and how those shape adult attachment behaviors and barriers to healthy attachment with others and with God. Through the qualitative analysis of 7 women with the lived experience of adolescent sexual assault a deeper understanding of changes in attachment behaviors in adult relationships and ultimately in wavering relationships with God was developed. Emerging themes of mistrust, guilt, shame, and cultural and religious pressures gave insight into the impact and subsequent barriers that survivors of sexual assault battle when trying to form and maintain attachments to others and to their spirituality.