Self-Reported Memory for Abuse Depends Upon Victim-Perpetrator Relationship

We pres ent pre lim i nary re sults from the Be trayal Trauma In ven tory (BTI) test ing pre dic tions from be trayal trauma the ory (Freyd, 1994, 1996, in press) about the re la tion ship be tween am ne sia and be trayal by a care giver. The BTI as sesses trauma his tory us ing behaviorally de fined events in the do mains of sex ual, phys i cal, and emo tional child hood abuse, as well as other life time trau matic events. When par tic i pants en dorse an abuse ex pe ri ence, fol low-up ques tions as sess a va ri ety of fac tors in clud ing mem ory im pair ment and per pe tra tor re la tion ship. Pre lim i nary re sults sup port our pre dic tion that abuse per pe trated by a care giver is re lated to less per sis tent mem o ries of abuse. This re la tion ship is sig nif Jennifer J. Freyd and Anne P. DePrince are af fil i ated with the De part ment of Psy chol ogy, Uni ver sity of Or e gon, Eu gene, OR. Eileen L. Zurbriggen is af fil i ated with the De part ment of Psy chol ogy, Uni ver sity of Cal i for nia at Santa Cruz. Ad dress cor re spon dence to: Jennifer J. Freyd, De part ment of Psy chol ogy, 1227 Uni ver sity of Or e gon, Eu gene, OR 97403-1227 (E-mail: jjf@dy namic.uoregon.edu). Pre lim i nary re sults from this study were re ported at the an nual meet ing of the West ern Psy cho log i cal As so ci a tion, Port land, Or e gon, April 15, 2000 and at the an nual meet ing of the In ter na tional So ci ety for Trau matic Stress Studies, San An to nio, Texas, No vem ber 16-19, 2000. The re search and manu script prep a ra tion were sup ported in part by the Trauma and Op pres sion Re search Fund at the Uni ver sity of Or e gon Foun da tion (es tab lished by an anon y mous do nor), a re search grant from the Uni ver sity of Or e gon Cen ter for the Study of Women in So ci ety, a pre-doc toral fel low ship from the Emo tion Re search Pro gram, Na tional In sti tute of Men tal Health, and a post-doc toral fel low ship from the Na tional In sti tute of Men tal Health, F32 MH12068. The au thors wish to thank Da vid Lisak for pro vid ing his mea sure. Jour nal of Trauma & Dis so ci a tion, Vol. 2(3) 2001  2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights re served. 5 i cant for sex ual and phys i cal abuse. Re gres sion anal y ses re vealed that age was not a sig nif i cant pre dic tor of mem ory im pair ment and that du ra tion of abuse could not ac count for the find ings. [Ar ti cle cop ies avail able for a fee from The Haworth Doc u ment De liv ery Ser vice: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail ad dress: Website:  2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights re served.]