Factors that prevent, prompt, and delay disclosures in female victims of child sexual abuse

BACKGROUND

Several studies conducted in clinical and non-clinical settings have described why and when children disclose sexual abuse. Yet, there is incomplete understanding of how adolescents and young children may differ in factors that delay, prompt and deter disclosure that could inform strategies for clinical practice and prevention.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to identify factors that prevent, prompt, and delay disclosure among pediatric patients presenting for acute and non-acute medical evaluations of sexual abuse or assault, and to examine any differences in disclosure tendencies among female adolescents and pre-adolescents.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A chart review of a consecutive sample of pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department or outpatient clinic identified 601 patients who were diagnosed with sexual abuse and were willing to answer examiner questions about their disclosure.

METHODS

Data collection included attainment of patient narratives which were utilized to gather information about abuse disclosures. Recursive abstraction was applied to categorize patient statements for further analysis, while Pearson chi square and logistic regression were utilized for quantitative data.

RESULTS

Young age (<11 years) at abuse onset was the strongest predictor of, and fear of consequences to self was the most common reason for, disclosure delay in both adolescent and pre-adolescent females. Severity of abuse, adult perpetrator, and self-blame predicted delays only in pre-adolescent females.

CONCLUSIONS

Social and moral development during middle childhood likely has a strong influence on disclosure tendency. Strategies to promote disclosure should consider reducing fear of consequences associated with the adult-child paradigm.

Pathways to Understanding - How Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Came to Understand that they had been Sexually Abused

While child sexual abuse is recognized as a global challenge in need of attention, all too often it takes years before sexual abuse is disclosed. We therefore need to understand more of the process leading to disclosure of child sexual abuse. The purpose of this study was to investigate how adult survivors of child sexual abuse came to understand that they had been sexually abused. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 women and 3 men (18-57 years old) and analyzed the interview transcripts using a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to thematic analysis. Our analysis resulted in three main themes: The ambiguity of memory: "To remember the catastrophic"; The language of the body: "Let the body speak"; and Encountering an observant other: "The significance of being seen and recognized". The findings highlighted the complexity of the individual process of understanding that one has been sexually abused. The availability and intrusiveness of traumatic memories, bodily sensations and symptoms, and encounters with others proved to be contributing factors in the process. The findings give insights into why disclosure of sexual abuse can be difficult and have important implications for health professionals and policy makers working to help victims of child sexual abuse.

Featured counter trafficking program: The law enforcement first responder protocol

This invited article is one of several comprising part of a special issue of Child Abuse and Neglect focused on child trafficking and health. The purpose of each invited article is to describe a specific program serving trafficking children. Featuring these programs is intended to raise awareness of innovative counter-trafficking strategies emerging worldwide and facilitate collaboration on program development and outcomes research. This article describes the Law Enforcement First Responder Protocol, which trained law enforcement to recognize youth engaged in sex work as survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, rather than as "prostitutes", and to connect these survivors immediately with social services, advocates, timely medical care and ongoing follow-up.

Child Sexual Abuse: The Need for a Perpetration Prevention Focus

In the evolution of efforts to reduce child sexual abuse (CSA) rates in the United States, there has been a gradual shift to add preventive measures to after-the-fact interventions (i.e., interventions and policies implemented after the abuse has already happened, such as services and treatment for victims and punishment, treatment, and management of offenders). Prevention of CSA perpetration, however, is often missing from these efforts, despite decades of experts calling for broader prevention solutions. The current paper describes the scope of the problem of CSA, highlights problems with an over-reliance on after-the-fact interventions, and describes promising perpetration-focused CSA prevention interventions. While most existing preventive efforts focus on teaching children to protect themselves from incurring sexual harm, perpetration prevention efforts may hold more promise by addressing the onset of harmful behavior. As such, perpetration prevention efforts can contribute to a more robust and comprehensive approach to CSA - an approach that focuses on prevention of harm from occurring in the first place, as well as responding once harm has occurred.

Perceived Skill and Willingness to Address Child Sexual Abuse: Assessing Serbian and Montenegrin Pediatricians

Most research on pediatricians' reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA) is based in western countries. Only recently have studies focused on low-income countries. We are the first to survey pediatricians in Serbia and Montenegro on their encounters, competence and beliefs regarding CSA. Pediatricians in Serbia (n = 358) were recruited during a professional conference; pediatricians in Montenegro (n = 121) were sent an online survey. Demographic information was not obtained. Frequencies and percentages were calculated. A quarter of pediatricians in both countries felt competent detecting medical evidence of CSA. Twenty-seven percent in Serbia and 7% in Montenegro felt adequately trained to assess and diagnose CSA. Forty percent believed that CSA occurs predominately in poor, unstable or disorganized families. Twenty-nine percent in Montenegro and 15% in Serbia believed that complete strangers perpetrate CSA. Both Serbian (23%) and Montenegrin (30%) pediatricians were uncomfortable asking questions about possible abuse. One third of pediatricians in both countries were interested in further training. CSA is underreported at a concerning rate in Serbia and Montenegro, yet only a third of pediatricians in both countries were interested in further training. Future studies should focus on barriers to reporting in these regions, to increase awareness and competencies related to CSA.

A retrospective approach to examining child abuse disclosure

BACKGROUND

Often times, a child's disclosure is the only forensic evidence available in child abuse cases. Therefore, understanding disclosure patterns of suspected child abuse victims plays a critical role in the forensic investigations of both child physical abuse (CPA) and child sexual abuse (CSA) cases.

OBJECTIVE

To explore adults' retrospective reports about childhood disclosure of CPA and CSA.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

College students (N = 907) were screened for reported histories of CSA (n = 94) or CPA (n = 109).

METHODS

Through an online survey, participants provided anonymous information regarding CSA and CPA experiences along with information about any disclosure events or opportunities that they have encountered since the abuse.

RESULTS

Among the adults reporting CSA histories, 50 % indicated disclosing the abuse during childhood; 80 % indicated any lifetime disclosure. Among the adults indicating CPA histories, 32 % reportedly disclosed the abuse to someone during childhood with 52 % reporting any lifetime disclosure. For both groups, length of delay until disclosure was bimodal with many individuals reporting immediately and many waiting considerable time. Among adults reporting CSA, a minority (16 %) indicated the abuse came to the attention of authorities, with even fewer CPA cases (8%) reporting authorities were aware of their abuse. Denial and recantation in a formal setting was infrequent regardless of abuse type reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Given that participants experiencing CSA and CPA both reported low levels of denial and recantation, forensic investigators and practitioners may benefit from considering consistent interviewing approaches and protocols, regardless of the type of abuse suspected.

The "Who Do You Tell?"™ Child Sexual Abuse Education Program: Eight Years of Monitoring

School-based programs have been the central strategy to educate children about the serious nature of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the hope of prevention or early intervention. While program evaluations consistently show significant improvement in children's knowledge and skills, it behooves programs to monitor their impacts. Monitoring, or on-going assessments, can take several forms but in the current study refers to monitoring the outcome of knowledge of CSA prevention concepts. The "Who Do You Tell?"™ child sexual abuse education program has been offered for 35 years in Calgary, Canada and was previously evaluated in a randomized pre-test-post-test comparison study with strong positive findings. This article presents the results of subsequently monitoring program outcomes over an eight-year period (2010-2017), examining knowledge/attitudes in 6198 students in 50 schools in a Western Canadian city. All students significantly increased their CSA knowledge/attitudes with large effect sizes. Practice and policy implications are discussed.

Child sexual abuse disclosures: Does age make a difference?

BACKGROUND

The literature is inconsistent as to the relationship between age at time of abuse and time to disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) and the factors that influence early disclosure.

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to investigate the relationship between age of child at time of disclosure, taking account of age at time of abuse, delay in disclosure, and the relationship, if any, between factors influencing disclosure (feeling distressed, being believed, fear, contact with alleged perpetrator, difficulty saying it, and being asked) and age at time of disclosure.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The files of children (n=273) seen for evaluation in a child sexual abuse (CSA) centre were reviewed.

METHOD

Demographic information and data relating to the child's experience of informal disclosure were extracted from children's evaluation reports, based on interviews with children and their parents, where professionals deemed that a credible account of CSA has been given.

RESULTS

A significant relationship was found between age at time of abuse and age at time of disclosure (χ² (16) = 261.434, p < 0.05), whereby children were more likely to tell within the developmental period during which they were abused than within any other period; this pattern increased across each age category. Overall, no specific psychological factors were found to be predictive of early disclosure.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that children of all ages need to be targeted for prevention efforts and a larger study is needed to investigate whether some psychological factors are more predictive of disclosure than others.

Characteristic and psychosocial consequences of sexually abused children referred to a tertiary care facility in Oman: Sentinel study

BACKGROUND

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has been reported from different parts of the world. With regard to countries in the Arabian Gulf, there have been some anecdotal and impressionistic observations of CSA and Oman is no exception.

AIMS

In order to lay the groundwork for empirical scrutiny of this phenomena, the present study elaborates on the description of the CSA along with exploring the socio-demographic and psychosocial consequences among children with a history of sexual abuse referred to a tertiary care center providing mental services catering to the needs of children and adolescents mental health services (CAMHS).

METHOD

34 children referred for a one-year period to the CAMHS fulfilled the criteria for inclusion of the study. Socio-demographic, CSA, and psychosocial information were collected for each subject. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore which variables associated with children having depressive symptoms.

RESULT

Majority of children abused were female (64.7%, n = 22), age below 12 years (67.6%, n = 23), and with low family income (85.3%, n = 29). Multivariate analysis shows that CSA and psychological variables were significant risk factors for depression. Children who were penetrative abused were more likely (OR = 24.897, p = 0.044) to have depression than non-penetrative children. Children who reported problems with sleep-wake cycles (OR = 44.636, p = 0.012) were more likely to occurrence of depressive symptoms than children who reported no such problem.

CONCLUSION

The patterns of CSA and its consequences in Oman appears to echo the trends from other parts of the world. As the country is becoming increasingly aware of the international best practice towards CSA, this study will serve as a milestone for more studies in the area using robust methodology.

Criminological differences between child pornography offenders arrested in Spain

BACKGROUND

Lack of studies on CP offenders from non-English speaking countries motivated the analysis of the profile of adult men arrested in Spain for such crimes (N = 347).

OBJECTIVE

The current study examined differences between groups of CP users according to their criminal history (i.e., CP-only offenders, CP offenders with other nonviolent or non-sexually violent crimes, and dual offenders).

METHODS

Analyses of case investigation files were performed across seven key areas: (1) sociodemographic characteristics, (2) criminological data, (3) characteristics of index CP offending, (4) characteristics of CP collections, (5) access to children, (6) indication of pedophilic or hebephilic interests, and (7) recidivism outcomes.

RESULTS

CP-only offenders presented with fewer prior criminal records and lower general (6.7%) and violent (1.1%) recidivism rates. They were also less likely to be arrested for CP production, although they had greater access to children living in their residence. CP offenders with other nonviolent or non-sexually violent crimes exhibited characteristics on a continuum between the other two groups. Dual offenders were more likely to have prior criminal records for sexual offenses and higher sexual recidivism rates (16.7%). 55.6% had produced their own CP material, and they were more likely to have content depicting boys. They were also more likely to admit or be diagnosed with pedophilic/hebephilic interests, and they also had the largest proportion of legal child-related content (72.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

Authors conclude there are significant differences between dual and CP-only offenders which suggests a need for specialized treatment and risk assessment tools.

How Do Jewish Communities Respond to Manifestations of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? A Case Study of Malka Leifer and Adass Israel in Melbourne, Australia

The recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provided some insight into manifestations of child sexual abuse within an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. This paper extends the analysis by the Royal Commission (RC) to another Australian ultra-orthodox community that of Adass Israel, whereby a former school headmistress allegedly abused multiple students and then fled to the State of Israel in 2008. That case is unusual given that both the perpetrator and victims were female. Attention is drawn to a number of components similar to the RC findings pertaining to the particular vulnerability of children within ultra-orthodox communities given the absence of sex education and entrenched patriarchal authority, the reluctance of such communities to report child sexual abuse (CSA) allegations to secular authorities and associated cultural and religious factors, the failure of community leaders within or beyond Australia to support or compensate CSA survivors, and the absence of formal child protection protocols. Additionally, some conclusions are drawn about the key role played by advocacy groups such as Jewish Community Watch in exposing the global travel of child sex offenders, and the problematic legal protection provided to many such offenders by the State of Israel's Law of Return.

Non-Offending Minor-Attracted Persons: Professional Practitioners' Views on the Barriers to Seeking and Receiving Their Help

Individuals who are attracted to minors but have abstained from sexual offending (non-offending minor-attracted persons) are an under-researched, hard-to-reach population. The current study explored professionals' perspectives of the barriers this population faces in seeking and receiving help and how these barriers can be reduced. Twenty professionals read an original vignette and answered a series of questions via an online survey. Using an inductive thematic analysis, the accessibility of treatment and perceived risk of disclosure emerged as the main barriers to seeking and receiving help. To reduce these barriers a number of potential solutions were suggested, including increasing publicity, educating the public, and offering enhanced training to professionals. This research should bolster future efforts to prevent child sexual abuse and contribute to strategies focused on helping non-offending minor-attracted persons manage their attraction in a pro-social way.

Pathways from childhood sexual abuse to trait anxiety

BACKGROUND

Children exposed to sexual abuse are at risk for developing several psychological and behavioral difficulties during adulthood. Here, direct and indirect effects of family conflict, insecurity within the family system (manifested as disengagement and/or preoccupation), and negative feelings provoked by childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on trait anxiety scores were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Both Finkelhor and Browne's traumagenic dynamics model and Davies and Cummings Emotional Security Theory were applied.

METHODS

A total of 168 female college student survivors of CSA participated in this study. Information regarding each participant's abuse was obtained from a self-reported questionnaires. Emotional security was assessed with the Security in the Family System scale. To assess negative feelings regarding abuse and trait anxiety, Children's Impact of Traumatic Events Scale-Revised and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were applied, respectively.

RESULTS

Level of family conflict was found to directly relate to emotional insecurity and trait anxiety. In addition, preoccupation strategies were found to be directly related to trait anxiety. Conversely, disengagement strategies were indirectly related to anxiety through the negative feelings provoked by abuse. Experience with other types of abuse and/or neglect was also related to emotional insecurity and feelings provoked by CSA. Meanwhile, continuity of abuse only correlated with feelings provoked by abuse.

CONCLUSIONS

Strong relationships between family conflict, emotional insecurity, negative feelings provoked by CSA and trait anxiety were observed. These results suggest that treatment of CSA survivors should focus on improving security within the survivors' family system and reducing negative feelings provoked by abuse.

Randomized controlled trial of the Child Protection Unit: Grade and gender as moderators of CSA prevention concepts in elementary students

BACKGROUND

Despite the importance of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention, there are few recent randomized controlled trials of school-based CSA prevention programs.

OBJECTIVES

(1) To evaluate the effects of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on students' CSA prevention concept knowledge, ability to recognize, report, and refuse unsafe touches, and perceptions of teacher-student relations and (2) investigate the moderating role of age and gender on program effectiveness.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Eight elementary schools in a large suburban school district in the northeast United States were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition, with analyses conducted on a total of 2172 students.

METHODS

Students in intervention schools received the 6-week CPU and those in the control schools were exposed to business as usual. Students were administered assessments at baseline and then at post-test.

RESULTS

Univariate Analyses of Covariance revealed that students in the intervention schools had significantly higher scores on all outcomes than students in the control schools at post-test, even after controlling for baseline scores. Children in younger grades made greater gains from the program, and girls scored higher than boys in CSA knowledge and ability to recognize, refuse, and report unsafe touches, but both boys and girls made significant gains.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the importance of beginning early with school-based CSA prevention efforts. Although boys are still at a relative disadvantage in terms of their knowledge and ability in this area, they are able to make gains at the same rate as girls.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention among Parents of Children with Hearing Loss: A Pilot Study in Beijing and Hebei Province, China

This study aimed to examine the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention among parents of children with hearing loss. The study involved 127 pairs of parents with deaf and hard of hearing children from three special education schools in Beijing and Hebei province, China. The findings revealed that the parents lacked knowledge about CSA prevention, such as the character of perpetrators and child victims. Parents were supportive about potential CSA prevention education in schools. Most parents told children much about personal safety, but topics on CSA prevention were still insufficient. The study also found that education level was significantly associated with knowledge and attitude. Elder parents knew more and talked more about CSA prevention. Mothers and girls' parents were more willing to communicate with children about CSA prevention. The conclusion of the study was that parents appeared to have gained a positive attitude, but poor knowledge and practice. Their knowledge and skills of effective communication should be strengthened to promote CSA prevention practice.

Longitudinal Associations Between Childhood Sexual Abuse, Silencing the Self, and Sexual Self-Efficacy in Adolescents

Sexual self-efficacy-the belief in one's ability to engage in desired and to refuse unwanted, sexual activities and behaviors-is an important feature in promoting adolescent sexual health and well-being. One factor that may affect the development of sexual self-efficacy is child sexual abuse. However, little is known about the processes underlying the relation between child sexual abuse and sexual self-efficacy. Using longitudinal data from a sample of 739 adolescent girls and boys aged between 14 and 18 years, we examined the mediational role of two "silencing the self" attitudes and behaviors in romantic relationships-self-silencing, i.e., inhibiting fulfilling one's own needs, and divided self, i.e., presenting an outer compliant self-in the associations between child sexual abuse severity and two dimensions of sexual self-efficacy: the ability to set clear sexual limits and the ability to use sexual protection. Results of path analysis showed that child sexual abuse severity was associated with more self-silencing and more divided self. In turn, self-silencing was associated with lower protection use self-efficacy, whereas divided self was associated with lower limit-setting and protection use self-efficacy. Thus, self-silencing strategies in romantic relationships mediated the associations between child sexual abuse severity and lower sexual self-efficacy. The overall findings may inform the development of prevention/intervention programs that target the enhancement of an integrated sense of self in intimate relationships to promote assertive strategies in sexual situations.

Parent-child communication and preventive practices for child sexual abuse among the general population: A community-based study

Objectives

This study was conducted to investigate parent–child communication and preventive practices centred on child sexual abuse among a cohort of Saudi population.

Methods

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at a single primary health care centre (PHC) in Dammam city, KSA. Parent–child communication and preventive practice were measured by a Self-Reporting Questionnaire with binary answers (yes/no). A total of 400 subjects were selected using a stratified random sampling method.

Results

This study found that 82.5% (n = 329) of parents talked with their children about the latter's bodily privacy. With regard to supervision, most parents (91.7%) said that their children were under their direct supervision all the time. Other variables wear wearing appropriate clothes (94.7%), supervision (93.5%), and teaching a child about their bodily privacy (93.2%). A majority of the respondents (76.2%) were achieved a good preventive practice score, while 95 (23.8%) were observed to have poor communication practice. Logistic regression analyses for gender (p < 0.020; odds ratio 3.031; 95% CI), marital status (p < 0.026; odds ratio 0.081; 95% CI), and family size of more than one wife (p < 0.041; odds ratio 0.081; 95% CI) were significantly associated with good preventive practice.

Conclusion

The study showed that parent–child communication practices in KSA seem to be reasonably good. Further parental supervision of children with respect to sexual abuse needs attention. Parents are advised to communicate with their children and to provide them with information and material on the prevention of sexual abuse.

Child sexual abuse in Indonesia: A systematic review of literature, law and policy

BACKGROUND

Like many middle-income countries, knowledge about child sexual abuse (CSA) is limited in Indonesia. The national government has stated a commitment to protect children from the worst forms of abuse, yet the sensitivity of CSA along with the complexity of culture and law, present substantial challenges.

OBJECTIVE

This article reviews current knowledge about CSA in Indonesia, in the context of existing laws and policies that influence CSA prevention and intervention.

METHOD

A systematic review of this research was conducted in the following manner: a review of scholarly literature and grey literature in English (19 papers) and in Bahasa Indonesian (11 papers), and a review of CSA-related Indonesian laws (4 documents) and policies (5 documents).

RESULTS

This review finds that knowledge about CSA in Indonesia is still limited. The taboos on discussing sexual matters were identified as factors that impede reporting of CSA. Poverty also leads to increasing children's risk of sexual abuse. There was less attention to CSA occurring within family contexts and focus was more upon its occurrence outside of the family. The study identified that contradictory definitions of children within the law add to children's vulnerability to CSA; this is especially the case for girls. Current child protection strategies in prevention and intervention lack specific focus on CSA.

CONCLUSION

Further research is needed to enable the development of evidence-based approaches to better harmonize the development of law and policy with contemporary knowledge about CSA.

Audit tool for assessing child sexual abuse prevention content in school policy and curriculum

Although audit and feedback has not been well-used in social research, it is a useful method by which to answer research questions concerned with the notion of “best practice”, for example, whether a policy or program meets a required standard or benchmark. This paper draws on educational research conducted for a 5-year nation-wide public inquiry: the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. The research comprised an audit of the strength and comprehensiveness of child sexual abuse prevention education policy and curriculum in 32 Australian school systems. The paper describes the development of the audit tool including its conceptual background, step-by-step process for identifying and synthesising evidence to generate the audit criteria and descriptors, and an explanation of how the tool was used. It also presents a succinct protocol for the research method, and critical commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of audit and feedback for social research.

Parental alienation, coaching and the best interests of the child: Allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia

BACKGROUND

Allegations of child sexual abuse provide complex challenges to family court systems.

OBJECTIVES

Despite being highly criticised in the academic research, this analysis examined whether and how the gendered concepts of parental alienation syndrome or parental alienation more broadly are still being used to rebut allegations of child sexual abuse in family court cases in Australia. Parental Alienation is broadly understood as the deliberate actions of one parent to disrupt and prevent children's ongoing relationships with their other parent, in this case through allegations of abuse.

METHODS

We examined 357 publicly available judgements of the Family Court of Australia between 2010 and 2015. Judgements were analysed qualitatively for key themes using N-VIVO software.

RESULTS

Five themes emerged in the data, including use of the concept of parental alienation, coaching, mothers as manipulative, mothers as mentally ill, and impact of the best interest of the child.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate that judgements made in the Family Court of Australia are both similar and divergent from those made in other jurisdictions internationally. The complexity of responding to allegations of child sexual abuse for parents is discussed.

Challenges in translating interview protocols for alleged child victims of sexual abuse to different languages: A case study

Adequate interviewing of alleged victims of child sexual abuse is critical for the investigation and for preserving the welfare of the child. Investigative interview protocols for children (IIPCs) have been developed to meet this twofold purpose. This article focuses on one previously unexplored issue related to applicability of IIPCs: how well they translate into other languages. This case study provides an in-depth analysis of an example of the translation of an IIPC to a new language and its adaptation to a particular cultural setting. Using an interpretive description approach and a mixed-method, stages and outputs of the adaptation process are described, as well as the amount, type and nature of difficulties in translation that were identified and corrected across the process. The main threats to translation equivalence arose from differences among languages, but also from cultural and contextual differences. Prompts to children and interviewers within the protocol presented different translation challenges. Consultation with experts and the protocol's advisors, along with team discussions, were beneficial in identifying and solving translation issues. Typical translation issues and practical recommendations on how to translate and culturally adapt IIPCs effectively are discussed.

Overcrowded housing: One of a constellation of vulnerabilities for child sexual abuse

BACKGROUND

Effective prevention of child abuse depends on an understanding of factors associated with the abuse. Increased risk of child sexual abuse has been associated with parental substance use and adverse socio-economic factors such as living in poverty and parental unemployment. This study investigated overcrowding as a potential socio-economic risk factor in child sexual abuse taking into account other socio-economic, child and parental factors.

METHOD

This study used de-identified linked data from health and child protection data collections for the cohort of children born in Western Australia from 1990 to 2009 (n = 524,478). Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted and unadjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for time to first sexual abuse allegation and first substantiated allegation, relative to the level of overcrowding and controlling for other risk factors.

RESULTS

Higher levels of household overcrowding were associated with a 23%-46% increase in the risk of child sexual abuse allegations. Only the highest level of overcrowding was associated with a 40% increased risk of substantiated sexual abuse.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that overcrowded living conditions are associated with an increased risk of sexual abuse for some children. This factor needs to be considered alongside other risk factors when assessing and improving child safety.

Collaborative policing: networked responses to child victims of sex crimes

BACKGROUND

In response to child victims of sex crimes, Canadian police agencies are required to work collaboratively with child victim oriented community organizations. Such collaborations involve the navigation of potentially competing objectives of partner agencies.

OBJECTIVE

In our research, we examine police interpretations of collaborative responses to child victims of sex crimes in order to assess the challenges and benefits of police and community partnerships.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

We conducted 52 semi-structured interviews and focus groups with police officers working on one of different ten police service organizations across Canada in order to unpack the joint responses of police and community partner agencies to child victims of sex crimes.

METHODS

We coded and analysed focus group and interview transcripts for emergent themes pertaining to police interpretations of their collaborations with governmental and non-governmental organizations when responding to child victims of sex crimes. In focusing on the management and sharing of information, the complexities and practicalities of joint responses to child sexual abuse are revealed.

CONCLUSION

Collaborative tensions, such as differing mandates and blurred boundaries, were present in all participating policing agencies, but police working in and alongside CACs were more likely to recognize that the safety and best interest of children was a shared goal across partner agencies. Operating in successful partnership requires clearly demarcated roles and mutual understanding and respect between both police and partnerships agencies.

Childhood disclosure of sexual abuse and mental health outcomes in adulthood: Assessing merits of early disclosure and discussion

BACKGROUND

Empirical research on the impact of early disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) on survivor health is limited and mixed. One recent study found that early disclosure may actually be detrimental for abuse cessation and adult symptomatology (Swingle et al., 2016). The current study re-examined the effects of early disclosure and related variables on long-term mental health for men with histories of CSA.

OBJECTIVE

The primary aims of this study were to: a) investigate whether early disclosure and response to early disclosure were related to mental distress in adulthood, and b) examine whether having an in-depth discussion and timing of that discussion were related to mental distress in adulthood.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Data were collected from a large, non-clinical sample of male survivors (N = 487), ranging in age from 19 to 84 years, through an online, anonymous survey.

METHODS

Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted by entering groups of variables in four steps: control variables, CSA severity, disclosure, and discussion.

RESULTS

Overall, models explained between 24-28% of the variance in mental distress. None of the CSA severity variables reached significance. Both early disclosure (β = -0.126, p = 0.003) and response to first disclosure (β = -0.119, p = 0.006) were significant protective factors in Model 3. In the final model, having an in-depth discussion (β = -0.085, p = <0.036) and years until discussion (β = 0.102, p = 0.029) were also related to mental distress.

CONCLUSIONS

Results support the merits of early disclosure and discussion on long-term mental health. Implications for future research and practice are presented.