"It's Complicated Because We're Only Sixteen": A Framework for Understanding Childhood Sexual Abuse Disclosures to Peers

Differences Between Girls and Boys in the Disclosure of Sexual Violence

This article addresses the differences between girls and boys in the disclosure of sexual violence. The dataset combines data from the Finnish Child Victim Survey (FCVS) of 2008 (N = 13,459) and 2013 (N = 11,364), focusing on victims of sexual violence, ages 11 to 17 years, from the perspectives of disclosure and gender. Frequency and percentage analysis, cross tabulation, and a Chi-square test were used in the analysis. In the FCVS for both years, around 85% of the victims were girls. In almost two-thirds of the cases, the offender was a relative, friend, or some other known person, while in more than one-third of the cases, the offender was unknown to the victim. The second most common case was that the victim knew the offender, who was not, however, a friend. Sexual violence was found to be, in many ways, gendered. Most of the victims were girls, and most of the offenders were men. There was also a gender difference in the disclosure of experiences. Twenty-one percent of the girls and 45% of the boys reported that they had not told anyone about their experiences. Irrespective of the type of offender, the victims most often (63%) told a peer about their experiences, while 23% told parents, and only 10% told authorities. Moreover, victims reported shame and fear, distrust toward adults, and disbelief that disclosure would be helpful as reasons for not disclosing their experiences. To address this problem, raising awareness of the phenomenon, promoting an atmosphere that supports disclosing experiences of sexual violence, and improving readiness to address them are required.

Disclosing Child Sexual Abuse to a Health Professional: A Metasynthesis

OBJECTIVE

Sexual abuse is a major public health problem. Its disclosure to a health professional could help to reduce its impact on survivors' lives. The objective of this metasynthesis, combining a systematic review and an analysis of the qualitative studies, was to explore the qualitative literature concerning the experience of a survivor disclosing sexual violence experienced in childhood to a health professional, from the perspective of both.

METHODS AND DATA SOURCES

We used four databases and two journals (Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and SSCI, and the Journal of Sexual Abuse and Child Abuse and Neglect) to identify studies concerning this disclosure of sexual abuse to healthcare professionals from the point of view of the survivors and the health professionals. After assessing the methodological quality of the articles with the "Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP)," we conducted a thematic analysis of the data extracted during the review.

RESULTS

This review includes 20 articles, covering the data of 612 participants: 291 who were adults at the time of the study but abused in childhood, 152 minors, 14 parents of adolescents, and 155 healthcare professionals. Two themes emerged from the analysis: (1) the disclosure as experienced by the professionals, and (2) the disclosure as experienced by the survivors.

CONCLUSION

Our results show that survivors had a diachronic approach to the experience of disclosure. They suggest a change over time in how survivors experience disclosure: relief and release were seen only among the adult participants, at a distance from - long after - the disclosure. This study made it possible to identify new perspectives for research in the field of child psychiatry and to formulate concrete clinical proposals, in particular, by applying the principle of patient experts to involve now-adult survivors in training and increase the awareness of the healthcare professionals concerned.