Developmental history and object relations in psychiatrically disturbed adolescent girls

This study explored empirically the relationship between developmental history variables and several dimensions of object relations in a sample of 36 female adolescent inpatients. The results document the importance of preoedipal experience, the relationship with the mother, and continuity of attachments in shaping object relations. In addition, the data point to the importance of distinguishing different dimensions of object relations, such as the affective quality of the object world and the logic and accuracy of attributions, which may have different developmental correlates. The findings also suggest the impact of sexual abuse, typically a postoedipal experience, on enduring object- relational processes.