Child and adolescent victims of sexual violence: aspects of physical and emotional development

Abstract

Objective: to identify the multidisciplinary health team’s perception on aspects of the physical and emotional development of children and adolescents who have suffered sexual violence. Methods: a qualitative study, carried out with 30 health professionals in a hospital in Bahia, Brazil, between June and July 2019. Data were collected from an interview guided by a semi-structured questionnaire. The results were interpreted according to Symbolic Interactionism. Results: some sexually violated children were under five years old and healthy, others had physical/mental disabilities. Victimized adolescents were in the pre-pubertal phase, with fragile body structure, not emotionally mature and unaware of sexuality. Final considerations: children’s physical and emotional aspects make children vulnerable to sexual victimization, as they facilitate the control and dominion that offenders need to have over them. As a protection strategy, it is recommended using sexual and health education linked to greater surveillance of family members, multidisciplinary team and educators.

Emotional Repercussion in Children Victims of Sexual Abuse: A Narrative Review

“…Children's concerns about the sexual themes mentioned above may be associated with the difficulty of establishing intimate relationships with peers, due to the fear of being placed in a position of inferiority (Schaefer et al, 2018). The victims are sexually vulnerable, an aspect heightened by the puerile pattern of this stage of development and the lack of knowledge about sexuality (Conceição et al, 2022).…”

“…Negative affective states are preponderant in victims of abuse, with feelings associated with shame, anger, sadness and hurt being common (Fonseca et al, 2021;Chehab, et al, 2017;Steil et al, 2022). The points mentioned can leave these subjects vulnerable to stressful events, leading to immature emotional development (Conceição et al, 2022). Depressive conditions can also begin in childhood and adolescence in scenarios of sexual abuse (Scheneider & Habigzang, 2016;Le Moult et al, 2019;Silva et al, 2020).…”

Main problems that threaten the teaching-learning process

“…It should also be noted that Morais et al (2022) analyzed the emotional and physical aspects of children and adolescents who were victims of sexual violence in Brazil, identifying that some of them were under 5 years of age, even minors with physical and mental disabilities, while adolescents were characterized by not presenting emotional or sexual maturity and were unaware of sexuality. These findings denote a significant physical and psychological impact on children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence, which has repercussions on their development and development in different contexts, including education, if they are not provided with adequate support for coping.…”

Repercussões psicológicas de adultos que sofreram abuso sexual na infância

“…Devido à proximidade com a ví琀椀ma, a no琀椀昀椀cação, geralmente, é negligenciada, o que corrobora a permanência e o agravamento dos traumas psicológicos 25 .…”

“…Embora o abuso sexual possa ocorrer em qualquer fase da vida, ressalta-se que as principais ví琀椀mas são as crianças, e essa relação entre os abusos estaria diretamente ligada ao desejo pelo corpo feminino em desenvolvimento e a criança como objeto do prazer sexual 12 . Atrelado a esse fator, as crianças, além de passarem mais tempo em casa, sendo mais vulneráveis aos agressores intrafamiliares, ainda possuem outras peculiaridades limitantes a sua autoproteção, tais como menor força 昀sica, menor amadurecimento emocional para entender as consequências do trauma e a di昀椀culdade de verbalização da ocorrência deste 琀椀po de violência 25 .…”