Idealized Cultural Identities Model on Help-Seeking and Child Sexual Abuse: A Conceptual Model for Contextualizing Perceptions and Experiences of South Asian Americans

• NCJ Number: 235010
• Journal: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2011 Pages: 218-243
• Author(s): Shanta N. Kanukollu; Ramaswami Mahalingam
• Date Published: April 2011
• Length: 26 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework to study perceptions of child sexual abuse and help-seeking among South Asians living in the United States.

Abstract

The authors integrate research on social marginality, intersectionality, and cultural psychology to understand how marginalized social experience accentuates South Asian immigrants' desire to construct a positive self-identity. Using model minority ideology as an example of such a construction, we highlight its role in silencing the topic of child sexual abuse within this immigrant community as well as its impact on attitudes towards professional mental health services. The authors contend that their framework, the idealized cultural identities model on help-seeking and child sexual abuse, provides a unique analytical model for clinicians and researchers to understand how South Asian Americans process, experience, and react to child sexual abuse. (Published Abstract)