Why do child sexual abuse victims not tell anyone about their abuse? An exploration of factors that prevent and promote disclosure

Abstract

Disclosure rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) to both social supports and law enforcement are concerningly low, although more research is needed to understand factors that impact disclosure. Thus, the present study examined rates of informal (i.e., to a social support) and formal (i.e., to law enforcement) disclosure of CSA, as well as victims' selfreported experiences with telling others about their own abuse and their perceptions of the overall advantages and disadvantages of disclosure. In all, 76 undergraduate women (who collectively experienced 105 instances of abuse) participated in a semi-structured interview regarding their history of CSA. Results revealed that approximately 50% of cases involved the victim informally disclosing, and only 10% of cases being formally disclosed to authorities. The quantitative and qualitative data shed light on a number of factors that lead victims to not disclose, as well as the identification of factors that may promote a victim to share their abuse with others. The implications for improved prevention and responses to CSA disclosure are discussed.

What Do Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Believe Will Facilitate Early Disclosure of Sexual Abuse?

“…An important implication of our findings is therefore how giving adults the understanding of how difficult it is for survivors to disclose CSA, and at the same time give them the tools to recognize its physical and psychological effects could help facilitate earlier disclosure of CSA. This is in line with earlier research ( 7 ). This could also enhance the understanding of the responsibility adults have in the process of disclosure, precisely because of the barriers survivors face.…”

“…Approximately 15-18% of women and 6-7.6% of men experience CSA (Child sexual abuse) (1-3). On average it can take up to 18 years before victims disclose CSA (4)(5)(6), some studies showing a small number (8-21%) disclose after 1 month (6)(7)(8), and around 27.8% never disclose (9)(10)(11). The health consequences have shown to be severe, both for the physical and mental health of victims (4,8,12,13).…”

“…There is a discrepancy between the number of reported cases and incident of CSA documented through self-reports (1,2,7,18,19). This indicates that many survivors never talk about their experiences to the public health services, and some never tell anyone about their experiences of CSA (9)(10)(11).…”

“…However, facilitating disclosure is not easy due to personal and intra-personal barriers, frequently reported by victims (7,20,23). Many children do not self-label their experiences as sexual abuse (24,25), others feel a strong ambiguity toward the perpetrator, especially if this is a primary caretaker (5,24,(26)(27)(28), or they experience feelings of fear, shame and guilt (29)(30)(31).…”

“…Most victims disclose to their friends or parents first ( 7 , 25 ). Some studies show that children often tell their parents, while adolescents, not wanting to burden parents, more often tell their friends ( 11 , 29 , 33 , 34 ).…”