Examination of the relationship between childhood traumas, early maladaptive schemas and rape myths acceptance in adults

Childhood traumas are devastating experiences that leave lasting marks throughout life. These marks can also be observed in the cognitive schemas that actively shape how an individual perceives and interprets themselves, their surroundings, and the world. In this context, the present thesis investigates the direct and indirect relationships between childhood traumatic experiences, early maladaptive schemas, and rape myth acceptance. For this purpose, data were collected using both online and paper-pencil methods through the Informed Consent Form, Demographic Information Form (DBF), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33), Young Schema Questionnaire – Short Form (YSQ-SF), Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMAS), and Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale – Implicit Version (IRMAS-I). The IRMAS-I was also adapted into Turkish within the scope of this study. The scale was found to be statistically valid and reliable, and the scores derived from this version were used in the analyses. Before proceeding with the analyses, participants who had incomplete responses to the scale battery, who answered attention-check questions incorrectly, or who were identified as outliers were excluded from the sample. The final research sample consisted of 329 participants, including 243 women and 82 men. The average age of participants was 30.05. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 27 and AMOS 22 software. The findings revealed significant positive relationships between childhood traumas and early maladaptive schemas, especially within the domains of disconnection and impaired autonomy. No statistically significant relationship was found between childhood traumas and rape myth acceptance. Except for the impaired autonomy schema domain, significant positive relationships were observed between early maladaptive schemas and rape myth acceptance. Path analyses showed that, with the exception of the impaired autonomy domain, each early maladaptive schema domain had a direct effect between childhood traumas and rape myth acceptance. The two schema domains that most strongly explained the variance in the model among the three variables were disconnection and impaired limits. The findings were discussed in light of the relevant literature. The results suggest that early traumatic experiences shape individuals' schema patterns, which in turn play a role in the greater acceptance of rape myths.