This document summarizes a study comparing narratives of child sexual abuse disclosure between young people and adults. It found that young people were more likely to disclose due to a "pressure cooker effect" of emotions building up over time or being directly asked about signs of distress. In contrast, adults were more likely to blame themselves for the abuse and believed telling would make the situation worse. The study highlights the importance of creating an environment where children feel believed and supported to disclose abuse.

1. Rosaleen McElvaney
Dublin City University
Rosaleen.mcelvaney@dcu.ie
WE MUST BE DOING
SOMETHING RIGHT:
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
DISCLOSURE ACROSS
THE DECADES

2. Conceptual Model - Disclosure
• Containing the secret
• Active withholding
• Pressure cooker effect
• Confiding
• McElvaney, R., Greene, S. & Hogan (2011). Containing the secret of
child sexual abuse. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, doi:
10.11/770886260511424503

3. Containing the secret
• Emotional response to abuse is ‘unmodulated and
uncontained’ (Bentovim, 2002)
• Self containment as means of self-regulating
emotional impact of abuse; containment within
relationships

4. To tell or not to tell?
• being believed
• being asked
• shame/self-blame
• fears and concerns for self and others
• peer influence
McElvaney, R. Greene,, & Hogan, D. (2014). To tell or not to tell?
Factors influencing young people’s
infomal disclosures of child sexual abuse,
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29, 5, 928–947
DOI: 10.1177/0886260513506281

5. McElvaney, 2014
STUDY COMPARING
ADULTS’ AND
CHILDREN’S
NARRATIVES

6. This study
•Samples from larger Grounded Theory study
(McElvaney et al., 2012; 2014)
•Young People (aged 13-19; 15 girls, 5 boys)
•All seen for assessment and deemed to have given
credible account
•n=20, 10 abused within family, 12 outside
•Adults (aged 35-65, 8 women, 2 men)
•Recruited through child sexual abuse assessment
service or adult counselling service
•n=10, all abused within family; 2 outside

7. Comparing stories…
Theme Young People
(n=20)
Adults (n=10)
Signs of
distress
8 (40%) 2 (20%)
Pressure
Cooker effect
13 (66%) 3 (30%)
Concerns
about other
children
7 (35%) 0
Being asked 11 (55%) 1 (10%)
Police 13 (65%) 2 (20%)
Peer
Influence
16 (80%) 0
Telling would
make it worse
17 (85%) 5 (50%)
Self Blame 6 (30%) 4 (40%)
Content
analysis –
themes
developed from
Grounded
Theory study
using nVIVO

8. Signs of distress
• “everyone was asking me what was wrong coz I wasn’t
eating and I was cutting my arms”. (YP)
• “I was depressed…I got a bit off the wall my behaviour
was crazy”. told her boyfriend. “that’s why me and my
Mam used to fight an an awful lot cos I would kinda think
how do you not know dya know what I mean it’s not pick
up the wrong why don’t you why don’t you try and find
out what’s going on and then I thought oh cos she doesn’t
care cos that cos I’m a bad person” (YP)
• “ I got fat when I was a teenager cos he used to pay me
money and I used to spend it on sweets em and she took
me to an obesity clinic once” (Adult)

9. Pressure cooker effect
• “she went on about this little boy being abused
and dya know ‘dreadful dreadful dreadfu’l and
you know it was all building up inside o me and
just out of nowhere well not out of nowhere I
just said to her” (Adult)

10. Pressure cooker effect
•“ out of nowhere like I just felt like saying it cos it was
like built up and all of a sudden I just said it” (YP)
•“I never actually planned to turn round and tell
somebody I never said right today’s the day I’m
gonna tell somebody cos I tried for so long to tell …I
never actually knew why I turned around and said
(boyfriend) this is what actually happened to
me…but I suppose everything just builds up an then
finally just comes out” (YP)

11. Telling would make it worse
•“Like I thought it would’ve if nobody knew about it
well then I’d still be like … I’d still be with me sister
and the kids would be over and it wouldn’t cause any
pain for anybody only myself” (YP)
•“I’d feel bad coz he’s get in loads of trouble an
everything and then I was saying God like this is much
easier not to say anything” (YP)

12. Telling would make it worse
• “there were so many things going on for me mother I
think I didn’t want to cause any more upset…I just didn’t
want to cause trouble…I just got this thing in my head
that I’d invented it didn’t help he’d get taken away and
there’d be a load of trouble I just never said anything …I
think he’d have probably have had a good telling off from
me mother yeah when I look back it probably wouldn’t a
gone wouldn’t gone ought like that really she’d a
probably just gone mad then she’d a been right upset then
I’da felt guilty for upsetting her em I’d say it probably
woulda stopped cos I’d know it would be safe for then to
say if you do it anymore I’m going to tell me mum again
kinda thing” (Adult)

13. Self blame
• “after going through a couple of years of actually thinking
that it was your fault then I didn’t tell anyone because it
was my fault.
• …when you’re like about twelve and you don’t have
anybody to talk to and you don’t know what actually
happened …like I knew what happened but you don’t
actually know what it is like and you do start believing
that it was your fault so you don’t tell anybody cos you
think well they’ll think that I was just having sex or
something when I was that young…I started believing like
it that was my fault then it wasn’t even about the threat
anymore it was about because I thought it was my fault so
why would I tell somebody why would I tell somebody
something that it was my fault that I did it” (YP)
•

14. Self blame
•“I think at the time it happened I was questioning and
questioning em why it happened…I think that as I got
older I started to think well it has to have happened
because I mean because that’s what he said …I
couldn’t think of any reason why would he do that to
me like I musta done something or I must just be a
certain type of person dya know what I mean..so it
was just yeah it was just like I did question when it
first happened I was thinking well is it my fault or
isn’t it but then I started believing that it was my
fault” (YP)

15. Self blame
• I allowed that to happen ….I I do because sometimes when we talk
at the group you know (therapist) would say about us having
choices .. if I mentioned any episode about when I was with my ex
husband and the …(therapist) used to say but we have choices you
know there’s two to blame really ..you allowed it to happen you
allowed him to control you .. or whatever so now it’s just I have the
understanding that I obviously allowed it to happen why wasn’t I
strong enough? why why didn’t I shout? like I mean there was seven
of us there … in one bedroom …so he just had to creep in when
everybody was sleeping you know why pick me you know? .. you
know afterwards .. when ..you’re talking to (therapist) or whoever
about abuse you know it just occurs and you think to yourself you
know why did I allow that to happen you know? (Adult)

16. Self blame
• “counsellors do reassure people and say yeah it’s not your fault you
know in a way but it’s never going to in there (pointing to head) it’s
completely different …I think it’s more of you know asking right
what happened? how did it happen?.did you go into his room? or did
he come into your room? I think when you’re told then ok yeah he
came into my room so that’s where your brain your brain is starting
to say well I wasn’t I didn’t go into his room and start making you
realise then oh God maybe is that my fault? you know that he was
the one that approached my room I didn’t approach his room when
you think about that I think it helped or who touched who first? did
he touch you first? well you say oh yeah he did when you think about
that you know I’d say that would be that would’ve helped me more”
(Adult)

17. Conclusions from comparative study
•Positive changes over time…..
•Increased awareness
•Being asked – others noticing signs of distress
•Police involvement
•Ongoing challenges….
•Intrapsychic
•self blame
•belief in negative consequences
• children – some were negative, most received
supportive response but parents upset
• adults - didn’t tell

18. Focus on what helps children tell:
•“I always knew it wasn’t my fault because everybody
said that, I always had that drummed into me: it’s not
your fault…see when my parents broke up people
always said ‘it’s not your fault, we’re just not getting
on, it’s nothing to do with you’ and when (alleg perp)
and Mum had rows Mum always said that’ it’s not
your fault’ … so no I always knew it wasn’t my fault
(YP)

19. Disclosure during adulthood
• Act of telling purposeful and intentional (Tener & Murphy, 2014) –
many in this study didn’t plan to tell
• Concern about upsetting others (Alaggia, 2004; Draucker &
Martsolf, 2008; Hunter, 2011) NOT concern for other children
(Tener & Murphy refer to one study – MacFarlane
• Naming abuse as abuse (Alaggia, 2004)
• Reporting to police: a challenge

20. Police involvement
• Children First guidelines – legislative footing & reciprocal
reporting between child welfare services and Gardai
• Criminal Evidence Act - Specialist Victim Interviewers (Gardai)
• BUT
• Recent survey (Feeney, 2014) – lower satisfaction with Gardai
among young people than adults; Only 37% of young people
reported crime
• Experiences of court system – may influence reporting

21. • Prevention Programmes - Given inconsistent findings re age, it is not
appropriate to target a particular age group for prevention programmes.
• Disclosure and Gender - Counselling services in past 10 years e.g. The
National Counselling Service and One in Four have seen a significant
increase in male clients. In 2011, 53% of female Rape Crisis Centre users
said they were abused as children compared to 84% of males.
• Prevention & Awareness Raising Campaigns – Research has highlighted
that intrafamilial abuse is harder for children to disclose than
extrafamilial abuse-this raises significant challenges for future
awareness campaigns in educating families and children on this subject.
Clinical Implications

22. Key messages for practitioners
• Awareness that when dealing with parents, they may have
undisclosed experiences of childhood sexual abuse
• The work HAS paid off
• There is a lot more to do!
• Challenges
• Finding the right questions at the right time
• Being able to listen
• Important role of peers for young people