Unveiling Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure in China: An Ecological Exploration of Survivors’ Experiences
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Explore the barriers to disclosing child sexual abuse in China;
- Reveal how specific socio-cultural factors influence child disclosure in China;
- Highlight the similarities and differences between this influence and international mainstream research.
1.1. Defining ‘Disclosure’
1.2. Theoretical Framework
2. Methodology
2.1. Data Collection and Analysis
2.2. The Characteristics of Victims and Perpetrators of CSA
2.2.1. Information of Victims
2.2.2. Information of Perpetrators
3. Findings
3.1. Barries to Disclose Child Sexual Abuse
3.1.1. Barriers at Individual Level (Ontogenic)
A Lack of Awareness of Sexual Abuse
“I did not tell my mum because I did not understand the meaning of his behaviours … I thought it was just normal (relationship with my brother). When I was 8 years old, I learned from school (physical hygiene education) that I should not have incest behaviours with my brother.”
Children’s Feeling of being Unsafe and Unprotected
“… I was afraid that my parents would know … In a word, I was afraid that the people around me would be hurt, but I forgot that I was the injured one. At that time, I was afraid of causing trouble for my family.”(Poster 8)
“As I gradually became aware of sexuality, I dared not discuss it with my feudal, conservative, and stubborn parents. Whenever we watched scenes involving kissing in movies, they would always make disapproving remarks, making me too afraid to bring up the topic …”
Children Incapable of Disclosing Sexual Abuse
3.1.2. Barries at Micro-Systems: Families
Parents’ Lack of Awareness
‘I actually feel repulsed by boys and have complete distrust towards them. However, my parents think that my lack of early romantic relationships is reassuring …’(Poster 142)
Complex Family Environment
3.1.3. Barriers at Exo-Systems: Extended Families, Neighbourhood, and Community
Worries of the Extended Family Relationship
Worries of Neighbourhood and Acquaintance Relationship
Lack of Support from Neighbourhoods and Communities
“No one helped me. The teacher dared not intervene, my aunt would not take action for me, and my parents were far away. Feeling helpless, I chose to endure it without external help. If you couldn’t endure it, and decided to fight back, the bullying and sexual harassment would only get worse … Because I was a child that nobody cared about and nobody protected.”(Poster 18)
“All the villagers knew that I was a left-behind child, many of them teased me: Your parents abandoned you. I was very young at that time, so I believed what they said. After I was raped, the perpetrators always threatened me: If you tell anyone, your parents will never come back, they also made me confirm that I would never tell anyone.”
3.1.4. Barriers in the Macro-System: Cultural, Value, and Social Factors
“I worry that he (the perpetrator) might expose this, tarnishing my reputation… After it’s exposed, I’ll be the only one suffering. Society is really unfriendly towards women.”(Poster 260)
3.2. Response to Disclosed and Exposed Cases of Child Sexual Abuse
3.2.1. Response to Disclosure
“I told my dad on the spot, but my stepmother scolded me, and my dad said you must have misunderstood.”(Poster 62)
3.2.2. Disclosure and Judicial Intervention
“my grandfather was kept at the police station for half a day, but because I had no visible injuries, it didn’t even qualify as a criminal case, allowing him to escape justice.”(Poster 86)
“If I had seen answers on Zhihu about collecting evidence in rape cases or something similar earlier, maybe I would have reported”(Poster 135);
“I remember my own aunt kneeling in front of my mother begging her not to report”(Poster 240);
“I wanted to, but I was too scared, too scared to report… the public opinion on this matter is too harsh, as a victim, I don’t have the strength to endure any more harm”(Poster 33).
3.2.3. Response Depend on Kinship Relations
4. Discussion
4.1. Conclusion and Policy Implications
4.2. Limitations and Significance of the Research
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Age of Initial Abuse | Gender and Number | Number of Perpetrators and Victims | Instance of Abuse | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | N | N | Perpetrators (N) | Victims (N) | N | ||
3–6 years | 66 | Male | 38 | One | 197 | Once | 95 |
7–12 years | 133 | Female | 220 | Multiple | 61 | Repeated | 163 |
13–15 years | 29 | ||||||
16–18 years | 4 | ||||||
Unknown | 26 | ||||||
Total | 258 | 258 | 258 | 258 |
Age Group | Gender | Relationship to Victims | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | N | N | |||
Adults | 165 | Male | 330 | Strangers | 42 |
Minors | 174 | Female | 23 | Acquaintances | 165 |
Unknown | 14 | Relatives | 146 |
Identity of Perpetrator | To Whom Abuse Was Disclosed | ||
---|---|---|---|
N | N * | ||
Relatives | 22 | Mother | 25 |
Acquaintance | 13 | Father | 12 |
Stranger | 3 | Grandmother | 5 |
Sister/brother | 2 | ||
Friend/boyfriend | 3 | ||
Teacher | 2 | ||
Stranger | 1 |
Response after Disclosure | Voluntary Disclosure | Passive Disclosure | In Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Self-Disclosed Cases | Caught in The Act | Other Informed | ||
Calling the police | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Directly beating or scolding the perpetrator | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
Prohibiting the perpetrator from contacting the victim | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
Comforting the child, but took no further action (seen as negative as well) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Providing no support (contains laughing at the victim, standing on the perpetrator’s side, not believing, scolding the victim and no response) | 20 | 3 | 3 | 26 |
Total | 38 | 10 | 4 | 52 |
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Tian, T.; Katz, I.; Shang, X. Unveiling Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure in China: An Ecological Exploration of Survivors’ Experiences. Children 2024, 11, 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060688
Tian T, Katz I, Shang X. Unveiling Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure in China: An Ecological Exploration of Survivors’ Experiences. Children. 2024; 11(6):688. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060688
Chicago/Turabian StyleTian, Tian, Ilan Katz, and Xiaoyuan Shang. 2024. "Unveiling Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure in China: An Ecological Exploration of Survivors’ Experiences" Children 11, no. 6: 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060688
APA StyleTian, T., Katz, I., & Shang, X. (2024). Unveiling Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure in China: An Ecological Exploration of Survivors’ Experiences. Children, 11(6), 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060688