NCJ Number
113387
Date Published
1988
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the characteristics of sexually abused children and their families, with emphasis on the child's psychological recovery from abuse by a perpetrator known to the child.
Abstract
The available literature on child sexual abuse is currently largely dependent on case reports of children seen by clinicians and studies of adult incest 'survivors.' Despite the methodological limitations, problems shown among a significant proportion of these children and adults have been found repeatedly across a number of studies. Such a confluence of findings regarding the child's fears and anxieties, impaired self-esteem, guilt, depression, and peer relationships supports the conclusion that sexual abuse and its aftermath are traumatic events that can have a long-term impact on the child's subsequent development. The impact, however, varies across individuals and relates to the degree of associated stressful life events and available supports for assisting the child's recovery. The conceptual model presented highlights the major events occurring at different phases of the child's involvement. Assessment and therapeutic strategies for assisting the child victims and their families apparently vary in accordance with the sequence of events to which the child is subjected. The assessment strategy presented involves the child's overt behavioral and emotional problems and self-reported attributions for the event, in addition to assessment of family patterns and reactions. The most commonly used treatment methods -- individual, dyadic, family, and peer-group counseling -- are important in the victim's recovery from abuse. 110 references.