Alison Paradis

Université du Québec à Montréal | UQAM · Department of Psychology

This study examines the relationship between interpersonal problems in adult couple relationships and childhood maltreatment in a sample of 1,728 university students who completed an online questionnaire. Victims of maltreatment reported higher levels of couple interpersonal problems. Also, the experience of childhood maltreatment is more strongly...

This study uses a combination of observational methods and dyadic data analysis to understand how boyfriends' and girlfriends' perpetration of dating violence (DV) may shape their own and their partners' problem-solving communication behaviors. A sample of 39 young heterosexual couples aged between 15 and 20 years (mean age = 17.8 years) completed...

Postpartum depression is the most commonly reported mental health issue among parents welcoming a new child, with long-term impacts on the well-being of their family. Survivors of childhood interpersonal trauma (CIT) appear to be more vulnerable with higher rates of postpartum depressive symptoms. Yet, study is needed on protective mechanism that c...

Introduction First dating relationships can elicit intense emotions that youth may attempt to alleviate by using control tactics that negatively impact the quality of their relationship and their partner's well‐being. Despite the breadth of research on dating violence, studies examining control tactics in youth relationships are limited. The curren...

Background: Adolescent dating violence (ADV) is a major public health concern experienced by more than half of adolescents. Previous studies have found considerable diversity in patterns of ADV and suggest that its various forms often occur concurrently and reciprocally within adolescent dating relationships. While multiple robust distal correlates...

L’agression sexuelle (AS) à l’enfance est associée à plusieurs conséquences, telles que des problèmes de comportement extériorisés et intériorisés. En plus de l’environnement social et familial, l’environnement scolaire est susceptible d’influencer le développement de l’enfant (Pérez-González et al., 2017). Peu d’études ont exploré l’impact du fonc...

Background The sense of parental competence refers to one’s judgment of one’s own parenting abilities and plays a critical role in parental functioning. Studies have shown a link between childhood interpersonal traumas and a lower sense of parental competence. Yet, psychological neglect, a more subtle but still devastating childhood trauma, and its...

Physical dating violence is a widespread problem in adolescence, which often occurs during conflict escalation. Given that individual reports may be subject to many biases, including data from both partners is essential to yield a more accurate portrait of adolescent dating relationships. This study sought to examine within-dyad agreement rates as...

A dyadic examination of the impact of jealousy and trust on control in adolescent dating relationships.

Research on male survivors of childhood sexual abuse is notably deficient when it comes to addressing their sexual concerns, such as experiences of sexual distress, negative thoughts, and feelings related to their sexuality. Dissociation, a known consequence of childhood sexual abuse, could be associated with higher sexual concerns through identity...

Examining the relationship between the perpetration of control and other forms of teen dating violence.

Parents who have experienced cumulative childhood interpersonal trauma (CCIT, i.e., an accumulation of different types of abuse) tend to experience higher parental stress following the birth of a child. As CCIT is associated with lower levels of partner support, which is linked to increased parental stress, partner support could explain the link be...

Objectives Childhood cumulative trauma (CCT) has consistently been associated with relationship dissatisfaction in adulthood. Early parenthood is a challenging context where partners’ vulnerabilities, such as CCT history, tend to be exacerbated and further decrease relationship satisfaction. However, dyadic studies are lacking and the mechanisms th...

Amid adolescence, youth are developing the relational skills necessary to form and maintain positive intimate relationships. Sexual assertiveness is a key skill that could be related to couples’ sexual outcomes (i.e., sexual satisfaction, sexual concerns, and sexual function). However, dyadic studies are lacking, and associations between sexual ass...

A large body of evidence demonstrates that childhood interpersonal trauma is associated with poorer parental and couple outcomes following the birth of a new child. As a unique component of couple functioning, parenting alliance is key during this transition period and is associated with long-term parental and child well-being. However, parenting a...

Dating disagreements consist of divergences between partners' opinions or needs. When left unresolved, dating disagreements may escalate into conflicts and even sometimes, to dating violence perpetration (DVP). Several risk factors have been documented for conflicts and DVP in adolescents, such as stress, attachment insecurities, and prior DVP, but...

RÉSUMÉ — Introduction : Le stress parental est associé à la satisfaction relationnelle et cette dernière à la satisfaction sexuelle, mais peu d’études ont porté sur l’association entre le stress parental et la satisfaction sexuelle, une sphère pourtant importante des relations conjugales. Objectif : La présente étude vise à examiner la relation en...

Parenthood is often related to a decrease of sexual satisfaction within couples (Maas et al., 2018), as this period brings a multitude of new stressors. Studies revealed that sexual satisfaction is an important factor for the cohesion of the couple and relationship satisfaction (Impett et al., 2014), that in turn may affect couples’ child well-bein...

Sexual assertiveness is often conceptualized as an individual’s ability to express one’s own sexual needs, desires, and limits. Given that sexual assertiveness is embedded in interactions and can affect not only both partners’ sexual well-being but also relationship satisfaction, dyadic approaches are needed to investigate sexual assertiveness nego...

Childhood exposure to interparental conflict (CEIC) is associated with a reduced ability to positively resolve conflicts in adult romantic relationships. This may be especially true during parenthood, a time when there may be more conflicts between parents. However, the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of conflict managemen...

Development and validation of a scale on control in adolescent dating relationships.

L'exposition aux conflits interparentaux à l’enfance (ECIE) est associée à une moindre capacité à résoudre positivement des désaccords dans les relations amoureuses à l'âge adulte, notamment durant la parentalité, période où les conflits entre les partenaires peuvent être plus nombreux. Cependant, les mécanismes impliqués dans la transmission inter...

A voluminous body of scientific literature has found that challenging behaviors (CBs) in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are associated to symptoms of anxiety in their parents. There is also emerging evidence that they are linked to post-traumatic symptoms in their parents. However, fewer studies have...

Emotion regulation difficulties have been found to predict relationship satisfaction in adult samples, yet little is known with regards to the processes explaining these associations in adolescent dating relationships. Furthermore, among the available literature, most studies only consider one romantic partner. To address this gap, this study used...

Purpose Conflicts in adolescent dating relationships occur weekly and are challenging for this population. Adolescents use constructive strategies (CS) for conflict resolution, but also resort to destructive strategies (DS, i.e., withdrawal, conflict engagement, and violence), which contribute to conflict escalation. Fortunately, DS are not used in...

Sur la base des expériences et des recommandations d'adolescentes victimes de violences sexuelles en contexte de relation amoureuse, nous avons identifié cinq principes-clés à mettre en place dans les contextes d'éducation à la sexualité afin de mieux adapter les pratiques à leurs besoins. //Based on the experiences and recommandations of adolesce...

Les études antérieures rapportent des résultats mitigés concernant les différences de genre quant à la capacité des adolescent.e.s à exprimer leurs besoins, désirs et limites dans la sphère sexuelle. Cette étude qualitative vise à documenter la négociation des besoins, désirs et limites sexuels lors d'interactions où des dyades étaient invitées à d...

An analysis examining the role of jealousy in the relationship between anxious attachement and control perpetration in adolescent dating relationships.

Objective: Researchers have documented elevated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in aid workers. Yet, few have investigated the heterogeneity of PTSD presentations in this population. This study examined clinically relevant patterns of PTSD symptomatology in aid workers and examined whether factors such as the degree of trauma exposure...

Introduction Potentially morally injurious events (PMIE) are events that violate one’s deeply held moral values or beliefs, and that have the potential to create significant inner conflict and psychological distress. PMIE have been recognized as an important psychological risk factor in many high-risk occupational groups. However, no study to date...

Cultivation of self-care is believed to foster more well-being and to mitigate the psychological difficulties that mental health professionals experience. However, how the well-being and psychological distress of these professionals impact their personal self-care practice is rarely discussed. In fact, studies have yet to investigate whether the us...

A large body of research reveals that child sexual abuse is an adverse experience associated with many negative socioemotional and behavioral consequences during adolescence. Notably, adolescent victims of child sexual abuse are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, which has importance for their adaptation later in life. While research on...

Introduction Little research has documented cyber dating violence (DV)—a type of teen DV with unique characteristics that has been associated with negative consequences. Attachment is central to understanding negative behaviors in the context of relationships and has been associated with other forms of DV in teens. This study used an actor–partner...

La présente étude vise à valider la version canadienne-française du Parental Stress Scale auprès d’un premier échantillon de 473 parents et à confirmer sa structure factorielle auprès d’un deuxième échantillon composé de 378 parents issus de la communauté québécoise ayant un nourrisson. Les participants ont répondu au questionnaire traduit de l’ang...

Canadian guidelines suggest using a positive, empowering, comprehensive, and safe approach to provide sexual health education (SHE). However, when they do so, decision-makers and educators often favour sexual risk prevention initiatives rather than positive aspects of sexuality. Furthermore, youth often criticize the gap between what they learn in...

Les parents d’un nouveau-né peuvent être particulièrement vulnérables à la détresse péritraumatique (c’est-à-dire la détresse psychologique vécue pendant ou immédiatement après un événement traumatique) associée à des événements tels que la pandémie de COVID-19. Puisque la détresse péritraumatique pourrait affecter à la fois leur bien-être psycholo...

Relationship quality has implications for individuals' and couples' wellbeing, such as higher couple functioning and perceived quality of life. In adolescence, low relationship quality has been associated with poor mental health and relational outcomes. However, given the lack of instruments to assess satisfaction in dating relationships, most stud...

Research has shown that family alliance (FA), operationalized as the quality of mother–father‐child triadic interactions, is important for child socioemotional development. However, few studies have investigated the predictors of FA, and there are few longitudinal studies available. Accordingly, this study first examined whether mothers' and father...

First dating relationships often occur when youths’ confidence, sense of self, and independence are developing. These relationships can bring about various intense emotions, including jealousy and insecurities. Consequently, to alleviate these intense emotions, youth use control tactics (i.e., isolation, jealousy hypervigilance, dominance, emotiona...

Background: The birth of a child is a life-defining event which tends to widen the gap between parents' resources and the demands they face, generating parenting stress. In this regard, individuals who experienced childhood trauma, particularly cumulative childhood interpersonal trauma (CCIT), appear more vulnerable, with higher rates of parenting...

Le biais d’attributions hostiles consiste en une interprétation négative des comportements d’autrui et a été identifié comme étant délétère à la qualité des relations interpersonnelles. Bien que la satisfaction relationnelle soit un concept central à l’étude du bien-être individuel et conjugal, très peu d’études ont encore examiné les corrélats de...

"Il importe ainsi de se demander quel est l’apport des dynamiques familiales dans l’apparition et le maintien des symptômes d’anxiété. Il est notamment important de réfléchir à la manière dont les relations familiales peuvent aider à favoriser l’évitement et à maintenir la peur. En effet, il peut être très difficile de supporter la souffrance d’un...

Introduction Dating violence prevention initiatives are intended, not only to reduce the occurrence of violent behaviors, but also to promote the development of positive dating relational skills starting in adolescence. However, despite the growing interest in examining adolescent relational skills in adolescents, no specific measure is yet availab...

L’émergence des relations amoureuses durant l’adolescence joue un rôle important sur le plan du développement social et émotionnel des jeunes. En effet, les premières expériences intimes constituent d’excellentes occasions d’acquérir et de mettre à profit de nouvelles compétences relationnelles qui seront utiles tout au long de la vie. Le développe...

La satisfaction relationnelle à l’âge adulte est associée positivement à une plus grande intimité et à un meilleur engagement conjugal, ainsi qu’à une santé mentale et à une qualité de vie bonifiées. Bien que la satisfaction relationnelle à l’adolescence soit l’un des plus importants prédicteurs de la satisfaction à l’âge adulte, cet aspect des rel...

La violence dans les relations amoureuses (VRA) est une problématique particulièrement fréquente à l’adolescence. Les écrits scientifiques suggèrent que la VRA se produit souvent en situation de conflit, soit lorsque les partenaires utilisent des comportements destructeurs, comme la confrontation (ex., s’emporter, critiquer l’autre) ou l’évitement...

Crucial au bien-être psychologique, le développement d’une bonne estime de soi a été associé à une meilleure intégration scolaire, familiale et sociale. Les premières expériences amoureuses constituent une source d’influence positive quant au développement de l’estime de soi, notamment en raison de l’importance que les jeunes accordent à leurs rela...

Les premières expériences intimes contribuent positivement au développement de l’estime de soi en raison de l’importance que les jeunes accordent à ces relations. Plusieurs types de relations peuvent être vécues par les jeunes, notamment les relations amoureuses et les fréquentations. Bien qu’à l’âge adulte les relations comportant un niveau élevé...

Objective Despite their essential role during this health crisis, little is known about the psychological distress of mental health workers (MHW). Method A total of 616 MHW and 658 workers from the general population (GP) completed an online survey including depressive, anxiety, irritability, loneliness, and resilience measures. Results Overall,...

Being in a satisfying romantic relationship in adolescence is associated to many short- and long-term benefits. However, more research is needed to better understand what promotes relationship satisfaction in adolescence. To address this gap, this study used a diary approach to examine the relation between disagreements and daily variations in adol...

A strong understanding of sexual victimization (childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, revictimization), their effects and correlates is an essential foundation toward well-tailored interventions for survivors. While victimization is related to sexual functioning (Bigras et al., 2015; 2017), not all survivors present difficulties and the mechanism...

The birth of a new child is a life-defining event, which tends to dramatically widen the gap between parents’ personal resources and the demands they face, generating parental stress. In this regard, survivors of childhood trauma, particularly cumulative childhood trauma (CCT), appear to be more vulnerable and report higher rates of parental stress...

Prevention of dating violence is essential given its high prevalence and long-lasting consequences on adolescents’ well-being. As such, many intervention programs now focus on promoting healthy relationships skills which are important to reduce violence across the lifespan. However, researchers do not yet have the proper tools to measure the effect...

Physical dating violence (DV) is a widespread problem among adolescents. A growing body of literature demonstrates that physical DV often occurs during disagreements when partners use destructive conflict management strategies, such as conflict engagement (e.g., losing control, criticizing) or withdrawal (e.g., acting cold, being distant). However,...

À l’adolescence, les filles sont particulièrement à risque de vivre des violences sexuelles de la part d’un partenaire intime (VSPI). Les études qui se sont intéressées aux VSPI se sont surtout attardées aux conséquences dévastatrices de ces expériences auprès des survivantes, au détriment des mécanismes d’adaptation qu’elles mettent en place pour...

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with a host of negative repercussions. Yet, scholarly reports highlight the diversity of symptom presentation in survivors of CSA. Relying on the complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) framework, this study aimed to identify symptom profiles in teenage girls seeking services following disclosure of CSA...

This chapter addresses gender symmetry and mutuality in teen dating violence. It begins with an overview of violence in the context of first romantic relationships. This section is followed by a review of the literature on symmetry in dating violence among North American youth, including its definition, prevalence, and associated correlates. The th...

Social support is an important protective factor for the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The involvement of a significant other in treatment of PTSD in trauma survivors has been suggested to improve social support and to promote recovery. This systematic review was conducted to examine the effects of interventio...

Objectifs : La présente étude a pour but de valider une version franco-canadienne de l’échelle de résilience Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC 10; Campbell-Sills & Stein, 2007; Hébert et al., 2018) auprès d’une population de mères d’enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle. Méthode : Un échantillon de 361 mères a été recruté dans différents...

Evidence suggests that teen dating violence (TDV) often occurs during conflicts, mostly when partners are using destructive management strategies, namely conflict avoidance (e.g., acting distant, being cold) and engagement (e.g., losing control, criticizing). These strategies are associated with conflict escalation rather than resolution. Since con...

Research has revealed a significant prevalence of sexual problems in adulthood among child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors, yet many survivors do not report such difficulties. This study examined the moderator role of relationship satisfaction in the association between CSA and sexual difficulties in adulthood. Questionnaires assessing history of CSA,...

Teen dating relationships are often source of intense emotions, which may lead to frequent conflicts between partners. Adolescents are still developing their relationship skills and they may not yet know the best way to deal with these difficulties. Evidence suggest that teen dating violence (TDV) often occurs during conflicts, mostly when partners...

Childhood interpersonal trauma (e.g., sexual and physical abuse, neglect) has been identified as a risk factor of sexual compulsivity with higher rates of compulsive thoughts and acts among survivors (McPherson et al., 2013) and ensuing psychosexual difficulties (Vaillancourt-Morel et al., 2016). Although past studies have linked childhood interper...

The emergence of dating relationships in adolescence is often a source of intense emotions, which may lead to more frequent conflicts between partners than in adulthood. It is particularly important that adolescents learn constructive conflict resolution strategies so they can react appropriately when conflicts arise. Conversely, destructive strate...

Objective There exists considerable individual variability in the development and progression of pathological stress reactions after experiencing trauma, as well as in individuals’ response to psychological interventions. Yet until recently, such individual differences had not been considered when evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic intervention...

This study aimed to document the prevalence and co-occurrence of bullying and sexual harassment in sexually abused teens while examining their association with suicidality. The sample consisted of 195 teenage girls aged 12-18 consulting intervention centres in Quebec, Canada following disclosure of sexual abuse. Participants completed questionnaire...

Background: More than one adolescent out of three will use psychological dating violence (DV) as a strategy to resolve conflict in romantic relationships, which will have major consequences on their partner's well-being. However, over time, most adolescents will learn skills to better interact and face conflicts, suggesting that psychological DV r...

Cumulative childhood trauma (CCT) survivors are at higher risk of suffering from several interpersonal issues in adulthood, especially couple dissatisfaction. Beyond previous research documenting mindfulness as an explanatory mechanism of post-traumatic symptomatology, mindfulness has also been found to predict increased mutual support between inti...

Une solide compréhension des répercussions des traumas interpersonnels (p.ex., agression sexuelle) offre un socle nécessaire au déploiement d’interventions pouvant répondre aux besoins des victimes. Ces traumas peuvent laisser des résidus posttraumatiques délétères sur le fonctionnement sexuel des survivants, mais des variations individuelles sont...

Depuis, un nombre croissant, mais tout de même restreint, d’études ont tenté de mieux comprendre la réalité des hommes victimes de violence conjugale (p. ex., Cook, 2009; Hines et Douglas, 2010). L’objectif du présent chapitre est de fournir une analyse du phénomène de la violence conjugale subie par les hommes à la lumière des données empiriques a...

Le trauma cumulatif en enfance (TCE; abus sexuel, physique, psychologique, négligence) tend à interrompre le développement optimal de l’individu et à interférer avec l’acquisition des processus psychologiques fondamentaux tels que la cohésion identitaire. Or, la cohésion identitaire joue un rôle primordial dans la persistance de problèmes psycho-re...

Symposium Contexte et conséquences de la violence interpersonnelle à différentes étapes du développement