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Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Sexual Abuse on Attachment Styles in future relationships of women. It was hypothesized that: (i) “Sexually abused women will have more attachment related anxiety as compared to the non- abused women.” (ii) “Sexually abused women will have more attachment related avoidance as compared to the non- abused women.” An adaption of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R: Fraley, Waller & Brennan, 2000) was administered on a sample of 100 young women (50 abused women and 50 non- abused women), with ages ranging from 16-21 years, to measure attachment related anxiety and attachment related avoidance. The unrelated t-test was applied for the analyses. The results indicated a significant difference (t (98) = 9.917, p<.01, d=1.983) on the attachment related anxiety between the two groups, but no significant difference was found (t (98) =1.366, p>.05, d=0.273) on the attachment related avoidance.