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Disclosures of Sexual Abuse by Puerto Rican Children

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Lisa Aronson Fontes at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Lisa Aronson Fontes
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Abstract

Seven psychotherapists who had experience working with Puerto Ricans on issues of child sexual abuse and 5 Puerto Rican women who were abused sexually as children were interviewed in this exploratory study about disclosure. Other therapists and clients were consulted informally. Certain cultural norms and factors related to Puerto Ricans' status as an oppressed minority in the US are identified as making the disclosure of sexual abuse especially difficult for Puerto Rican children. Systematic factors hindering disclosure include discrimination, migration, poverty, and lack of bilingual services. Cultural factors inhibiting disclosure include childrearing practices, the value placed on virginity, and taboos against discussing sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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... Assim, a retratação pode emergir como uma resposta ativa ou adaptativa da criança face às diversas situações (intra/interpessoais) vivenciadas antes e após a revelação (Staller & Nelson-Gardell, 2005). A criança percebe e absorve as informações provenientes do meio social de maneira a conduzir, ativamente, a sua revelação, seja decidindo relatar ou retratar-se (McElvaney et al., 2012;Staller & Nelson-Gardell, 2005), de forma que o processo de revelação não se esgota nos contextos imediatos, mas é afetado por fatores presentes em outros níveis contextuais com os quais a criança interage diretamente ou indiretamente (Alaggia, 2010;Fontes, 1993;Fontes & Plummer, 2010). ...
... Considerando que a sistematização dos fatores associados à retratação pode contribuir para uma avaliação e tomada de decisão mais sistêmica e eficiente pelo profissional, este estudo objetivou identificar, a partir da perspectiva de profissionais, os fatores de risco e de proteção associados à retratação. O recrutamento de participantes em dois países (Brasil e Portugal) tem por base a concepção da revelação do ASC enquanto um processo que se desenvolve em função do contexto social, tendo a criança um papel ativo na interação com as condições dos diferentes níveis ecológicos (Alaggia et al., 2017;Fontes, 1993;Katz, 2014;Staller & Nelson-Gardell, 2005). (Brasil, 1990). ...
... Este tema engloba os procedimentos identificados pelos/as profissionais ao nível interinstitucional da rede de atendimento ao ASC, emergindo três subtemas: inter-relação da criança com pessoas e contextos (Alaggia et al., 2017;Fontes, 1993;Katz, 2014). ...
A Retratação Após Revelação do Abuso Sexual de Crianças: a Perspectiva de Profissionais
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2023
A retratação após revelação de abuso sexual de crianças configura as situações em que as eventuais vítimas negam os seus relatos prévios. Este estudo objetivou identificar, a partir da perspectiva dos profissionais, os fatores de risco e de proteção associados à retratação. Foram realizadas entrevistas individuais a 23 profissionais, assistentes sociais, conselheiros/as tutelares, magistrados/as, pedagogos/as e psicólogos/as, do Brasil e de Portugal. Da análise temática realizada emergiram seis temas relativos aos fatores de risco: “Condições Relacionadas com a Criança”, “Proximidade entre Vítima e Agressor/a”, “Revelação no Contexto Informal”, “Sistema Familiar”, “Pressões da Comunidade” e “Rede de Atendimento ao Abuso Sexual de Crianças”. Surgiram ainda dois temas referentes aos fatores de proteção: “Procedimentos de Atendimentos” e “Estratégias Institucionais”. Os temas encontrados refletem a importância da abordagem ecológica e multidisciplinar sobre a retratação. São discutidas as implicações dos resultados para o campo da avaliação do risco de retratação e das respostas a providenciar pelas entidades judiciais e não judiciais.
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... Contudo, diversos estudos têm vindo a identificar fatores/condições que podem constituir-se como entraves ou facilitadores da revelação do ASC, nomeadamente ao nível: a) intrapessoal: idade e sexo da criança, sentimentos de vergonha, de culpa, medo das consequências negativas da revelação, entre outros; b) interpessoal, remetendo para a natureza da relação da criança com o/a agressor/a, as reações familiares face à revelação do abuso; c) cultural/social, como por exemplo, as atitudes, normas e valores sobre o ASC, e a resposta das instituições à estes casos (Alaggia et al., 2017;Baía et al., 2015;Azzopardi, Eirich, Rash, McDonald, & Madigan, 2019;Brennan & McElvaney, 2020;Collin-Vézina, Sablonni, Palmer, & Milne, 2015;Fontes, 1993;Fontes & Plummer, 2010;Lemaigre, Taylor, & Gittoes, 2017;Manay & Collin-Vézina, 2019;Morrison et al., 2018). ...
... O conjunto de barreiras e facilitadores descritos acima refletem a complexidade da revelação do ASC, constituindo-se em um processo difícil para a criança, família e comunidade, em que se conjugam condições intrapessoais decorrentes da própria vivência do abuso sexual e da qualidade das interações da criança com pessoas e contextos ao longo do tempo (Alaggia, 2010;Alaggia et al., 2017;Collin-Vézina et al., 2015;Fontes, 1993;Tat & Ozturk, 2019). Frente a isto, o presente trabalho tem como base teórica a Teoria Bioecológica do Desenvolvimento Humano (TBDH; Brofenbrenner, 2005;Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). ...
... Embora em consonância com as publicações empíricas e teóricas sobre o tema (Katz, 2014;Rieser, 1991;Sgroi et al., 1982;Summit, 1983), considera-se que a definição de retratação presente nos artigos consultados é limitada, uma vez que não pondera a possibilidade de a retratação ocorrer ainda antes do encaminhamento/comunicação da suspeita de ASC às autoridades (Rieser, 1991). A revelação é um processo que se estende ao longo do tempo e envolve diversos contextos (Alaggia et al., 2017;Collin-Vézina et al., 2015;Fontes, 1993), sendo fundamental analisar os vários contextos de vida da criança, nomeadamente a família, amigos, profissionais e a comunidade em geral na investigação sobre a retratação (Katz, 2014). ...
Integrative review of factors associated with recantation after disclosure of child sexual abuse Revisão integrativa dos fatores associados à retratação após revelação do abuso sexual de crianças
Article
  • Sep 2021
Recantation in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) corresponds to the situation in which the child/adolescent denies a previously disclosure. This article aims to identify risk and protective factors associated with recantation, through an integrative review of empirical studies on this topic, published in the LILACS, PePSIC, PubMed, PsycInfo, SciELO and Scopus / Elsevier databases. The descriptors "recantation", "sexual abuse", "disclosure", "child" and "adolescent" were used in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. From a total of 294 articles found, 12 studies were included in the review. The content analysis resulted in five dimensions related to risk and protection factors of recantation: “Child-related conditions”; “Dynamics of CSA”; "Disclosure of CSA"; "Family system"; and “Responses from protection and justice systems”. The identified themes represent an advance in the theoretical field of recantation, indicating the combination of intrapersonal and interpersonal conditions at various systemic levels: family, community and institutions of the protection and justice system. These results represent an asset for the field of risk assessment of recantation, to subsidize the work of professionals and entities that deal with victims of CSA. Study limitations and possible implications for future investigations are presented. Keywords: Child sexual abuse; Disclosure; Recantation; Associated factors; Integrative review. Resumo: A retratação em casos de abuso sexual de crianças (ASC) corresponde à situação na qual a criança/adolescente nega uma revelação prévia. Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar fatores de risco e de proteção associados à retratação, através de revisão integrativa de estudos empíricos sobre esta temática, publicados nas bases de dados LILACS, PePSIC, PubMEd, PsycInfo, SciELO e Scopus/Elsevier. Utilizaram-se os descritores "retratação", "abuso sexual", "revelação", "criança" e "adolescente" em português, inglês e espanhol. De um total de 294 artigos encontrados, foram incluídos 12 estudos na revisão. Da análise de conteúdo resultaram cinco temas relativos aos fatores de risco e de proteção da retratação: “Condições relacionadas com a criança”; “Dinâmicas do ASC”; “Revelação do ASC”; “Sistema familiar”; e “Respostas dos sistemas de proteção e justiça”. Os temas identificados representam um avanço no campo teórico da retratação, indicando a conjugação de condições intrapessoais e interpessoais em vários níveis sistêmicos: família, comunidade e instituições do sistema de proteção e justiça. Estes resultados representam uma mais valia para o campo da avaliação do risco de retratação, de forma a subsidiar o trabalho de profissionais e entidades que lidam com vítimas do ASC. São apresentadas limitações dos estudos e as possíveis implicações para investigações futuras. Palavras-chave: Abuso sexual de crianças; Revelação; Retratação; Fatores associados; Revisão integrativa
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... The significant proportion of Hispanic/Latinx participants in this study may have skewed the data towards individuals who engage in more religious coping than the general population. Second, some traditional aspects of Catholic, Hispanic/Latinx cultures may cast women who have been sexually abused as impure or unvirtuous (Fontes, 1993), while simultaneously upholding Marianismo (i.e., a notion that women are spiritually stronger and have more of an ability to withstand pain than men; Comas-Diaz, 1995). Furthermore, a strong emphasis on upholding family pride among some Latinx individuals may prevent disclosure and help seeking behaviors, which could prolong feelings of guilt and shame following an abusive experience (Christensen et al., 2021). ...
Differential Associations between Guilt and Shame Proneness and Religious Coping Styles in a Diverse Sample of Young Adults
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 2022
Positive religious coping is linked with better mental health outcomes following physical and sexual abuse while negative religious coping is associated with poorer outcomes. Religious coping styles may be linked with dispositional tendencies to experience guilt or shame. This study compared the associations between guilt and shame proneness and religious coping styles and tested whether abuse history moderated these relationships. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 425 college students (n = 145 with physical and/or sexual abuse history, n = 280 with no abuse history). Participants completed questionnaires assessing positive and negative religious coping style, as well as two dimensions of guilt proneness and shame proneness. Structural equation models were fitted to examine associations between guilt proneness and shame proneness, and positive and negative religious coping, respectively, accounting for abuse history as a binary moderator. Across the full sample, positive religious coping was positively associated with guilt repair (i.e., the tendency to engage in reparative behaviors following one’s wrongdoing), guilt negative behavior evaluation (i.e., the tendency to feel bad about how one acted in a given scenario), and shame withdrawal (i.e., the tendency to try and avoid unpleasant situations in which one has done something wrong), and negatively associated with shame negative self-evaluation (i.e., the tendency to make internal, negative self-attributions about one’s wrongdoing). Negative religious coping was positively associated with shame withdrawal and, for participants with no abuse history, shame negative self-evaluation. Results suggest that positive religious coping is more closely related to guilt proneness, and negative religious coping to shame proneness. Additional research with longitudinal designs and more defined abuse history subgroups is needed.
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... This phenomenon has been termed "silencing" and may reflect the possibility that nondisclosure is more adaptive for some males than is disclosure [45]. Other research suggests that men and women are similar in context and consequences of CSA, but that men are more likely to experience abuse by someone of the same sex, accounting for some of the gender differences in reporting and disclosure [46,47]. Taken together, stigma associated with homosexuality as well as unhelpful disclosure responses likely relate to more mental distress and may impair future disclosures. ...
Limitations of the protective measure theory in explaining the role of childhood sexual abuse in eating disorders, addictions, and obesity: an updated model with emphasis on biological embedding
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2022
  • EAT WEIGHT DISORD-ST
In addition to its immediate negative consequences, childhood sexual abuse is associated with lifelong deleterious mental and physical health outcomes. This review employs a biopsychosocial perspective to better understand pathways from childhood sexual abuse to eating disorders, food and drug addictions, and obesity across the life course. Guided by an updated conceptual model, this review delineates how the biological embedding of childhood sexual abuse triggers a cascade of interrelated conditions that often result in failed attempts at weight suppression and eventually obesity. Such biological embedding involves pathways such as inflammation, allostatic load, reward sensitivity, activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, epigenetics, and structural and functional changes in the brain. These pathways are in turn theorized to lead to food addiction, substance use disorder, and eating disorders—each with potential pathways toward obesity over time. Predisposing factors to childhood sexual abuse including gender, culture, and age are discussed. This model calls into question the longstanding “protective measure” theory that purports individuals exposed to sexual abuse will deliberately or subconsciously gain weight in attempt to prevent future victimization. A more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms by which childhood sexual abuse becomes biologically embedded may help clinicians and survivors normalize and/or address disordered eating and weight-related outcomes, as well as identify intervention strategies. Level of evidence: Level V: opinions of respected authorities, based on descriptive studies, narrative reviews, clinical experience, or reports of expert committees.
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... Pomiar skali zjawiska WSD jest trudnym zadaniem, ponieważ jest on zależny od zachowań i norm kulturowych (Fontes, 1993;Gilligan i Akhtar, 2006 ...
Występowanie Przemocy Seksualnej wobec Dzieci w Polsce: Ilościowa Analiza Internetowego Forum Dyskusyjnego dla Kobiet
Research
Full-text available
  • May 2020
Zjawisko wykorzystywania seksualnego jest jednym z najbardziej traumatycznych przeżyć, jakie może spotkać dziecko. Biorąc pod uwagę zaniżoną liczbę statystyczną przestępstw na tle seksualnym wobec dzieci tzw. wykorzystywanie seksualne w dzieciństwie (WSD) konieczne jest przeprowadzenie bardziej szczegółowych sondaży wśród społeczeństwa polskiego. Celem badania było pokazanie skali tego zjawiska poprzez ilościową analizę internetowego forum dyskusyjnego dla kobiet. Badanie to jest częścią większego projektu badawczego dotyczącego przemocy seksualnej wobec dzieci w Polsce.
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... Measuring the prevalence of CSA is a challenging task because research shows that detailed information of how the abuse occurred and how silence is perpetuated may be different depending on the culture. As an example, for CSA victims from Asian and Hispanic backgrounds disclosing the abuse was difficult as a result of their cultural norms (Fontes, 1993;Gilligan & Akhtar, 2006). African-American girls experienced less abuse incidents, waited shorter times before disclosing, and were less likely to be abused by biological fathers and stepfathers than were Hispanic girls (Shaw et.al, 2001). ...
Investigating the Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse in Poland: A Quantitative Analysis of an Online Female Discussion Forum
Research
  • May 2020
This is a first research report by The Lost Childhood Association. The report focuses on investigating prevalence of child sexual abuse in Poland by means of online discussion forums.
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Spiritual trauma as a manifestation of religious and spiritual struggles in female victims of sexual abuse in adolescence or young adulthood in the Catholic Church in Poland
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2021
Specialists on issues of sexual abuse in religious institutions unanimously stress that this kind of experience significantly affects the victims’ spirituality. Particularly devastating and distorting for their spirituality is sexual abuse committed by clergy. In order to explore this issue for the first time in Poland, the authors conducted a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with five women who had experienced sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and/or religious in adolescence and young adulthood. The interviews were analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and narrative methodology. The results showed that four respondents experienced or had experienced religious struggles in three areas: interpersonal, intrapsychic, and relationship with God. These struggles are complex and intense enough to be referred to as “spiritual trauma” (Doyle, 2009, 2011; Kusner & Pargament, 2015), “religious trauma” (Panchuk, 2018), or “spiritual violence” (Tobin, 2019). The results of the study may be of importance for people helping or having any other kind of contact with victims of clergy sexual abuse.
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