I'm not sure how young you are talking about, but this has been my experience (may not be quite what you are talking about) . My earliest abuse wasn't pre-verbal; my best estimate is that I was 5. I completely repressed all memory of the incidents until I was around 30 and my 1st child had hit the age of my early abuse.

I now have pretty good recall of those events and in retrospect can clearly see how those events, while not in my conscious memory while growing up, had a deep and profound impact on me: my personality, my habits and behaviors, my emotional stability, even setting me up for further multiple situations of abuse throughout my childhood. How something I was completely unaware of managed to impact me unwittingly I still don't quite understand.

I don't know if that helps answer your question or not. Actually I know it doesn't since my answer is "I don't know", but maybe I sort of get what you are talking about. I am certain one of the wise sages around here knows the answer. I will eagerly wait with you for better insight.