Parfait, B., Sease, T. B., Sandoz, E. K. (2022). Psychological inflexibility as a mediator of the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and dissociation. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 23, 92-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2021.12.005
From a behavioral perspective, dissociation is an avoidant behavior precipitated by difficult life events such as abuse or neglect in childhood. Psychological inflexibility has been proposed as a mechanism carrying the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their negative consequences. Using cloud source data collected from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), this project examined whether psychological inflexibility mediated the relationship between ACEs and dissociation. Psychological inflexibility had a mediational effect on the positive association between ACEs and dissociation. Post hoc analyses, using a parallel mediation model, revealed cognitive fusion mediated the relationship between ACEs and dissociation, whereas experiential avoidance did not. These results provide preliminary evidence suggesting cognitive fusion uniquely contributes to the development of psychological dissociation, even when controlling for experiential avoidance. Implications are discussed.
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