“I was so Disconnected”: The Role of Social Bonds in Surviving Childhood Maltreatment

Childhood maltreatment literature predicts that victims of childhood trauma are at greater risk of engaging in antisocial behavior throughout adolescence and adulthood. However, some survivors refrain from antisocial behavior and develop into resilient, productive members of society. Based on interviews with 24 voluntary participants aged 26 to 70 years (M = 43.3 years, SD = 11.3 years), we explore the turning points throughout the life course to understand how social bonds were broken and rebuilt to prevent antisocial behavior. The findings suggest that protective factors to social bonds established earlier in the life course increased the likelihood that survivors of childhood maltreatment refrained from participation in antisocial behaviors through adulthood. Participants’ attachments to external emotional supports, commitment to their future and personal goals, involvement in prosocial activities, and belief systems were all described to be deeply impactful on inhibiting participation in antisocial behavior. Furthermore, the protective factors of social bonds naturally intersect with one another, and can have an amplifying and compounding influence on each other. These protective factors highlighted the intersectionality of social bonds as they promote resilience in survivors of childhood maltreatment.