How do Sexually Abused Children Disclose? Towards an Evidence-Based Approach to Practice

• NCJ Number: 217053
• Journal: Acta Criminologica Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: 2006 Pages: 33-41
• Author(s): S. J. Collings
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: South Africa
• Note: To access the full text PDF: 1) select the provided link; 2) from the Acta Criminologica Web site, select "Table of Contents"; 3) select the corresponding Volume and Issue (see the NCJRS abstract record for the exact Volume and Issue); 4) scroll the Table of Contents to the exact article; and 5) click on the "full text" icon. Downloaded on January 23, 2007.

Annotation

This paper conducts a literature review on child sexual abuse in an attempt to determine what is known about the extent and nature of the disclosure process.

Abstract

Available findings from a review of the literature indicate that child sexual abuse (CSA) is a largely under-reported phenomenon. Across studies, 42 percent of CSA victims indicated that they had never disclosed their abuse to anyone; approximately 50 percent indicated that they had only disclosed their abuse to a family member or friend, and 8 percent indicated that their abuse had been formally disclosed to the police or to a welfare agency. The available literature suggests that immediate disclosure in CSA is the exception rather than the norm. Purposeful disclosure in CSA takes place when a child makes an unsolicited and unmistakable disclosure of a specific abuse incident to a second party. These findings help provide an informed basis for those concerned to adopt an evidence-based approach to practice, as well as poses a clear challenge to those professionals who continue to base their decisionmaking regarding CSA on outdated and unfounded assumptions regarding the disclosure process. Legal and poplar understanding of the extent and nature of child sexual abuse disclosure tend to reflect outdated and unfounded assumptions regarding the way in which sexually abused children are likely to behave in the aftermath of abuse. This paper reviews available literature on CSA disclosure in an attempt to provide answers to the questions: (1) do CSA victims disclose their abuse; (2) what is the latency of sexual abuse disclosure; and (3) do abused victims disclose purposefully? References and appendix