Prevalence, effects and coping strategies of non-reported adult survivors of child sexual abuse
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Date
2017
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Publisher
University of Management and Technology Lahore
Abstract
Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) occurs when an older adolescent or adult uses a child for sexual pleasure or gratification.It is a known fact that child sexual abuse has severe impact on child’s life and the violation can affect the survivors for the rest of their lives. Prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) is hard to assess because it is often not reported, and it is believed that the number of actual cases is far more than the reported. The Study 1aimed at exploring the prevalence of CSA in Pakistani general population.Sample consisted of 762 undergraduate and postgraduate students from six institutes of five cities of Punjab (ages 18-38, 368 males and 394 females), recruited using convenient sampling.Retrospective Childhood Adversity Measure, that consists of six items, first two items assessing physical abuse, third incest abuse and following three different forms of CSA, was used.The results of total 765 cases revealed 52.3 % CSA prevalence (52.6 % females & 52.2 % males), 59.1 % Physical abuse (56.2 % females & 62.3 % males) and 23.1 % incest abuse (25.1 % females & 21.4 % males).
The Study 2 was conducted to explore the psychological impact of child sexual abuse andcoping behavior used by the non-reported adult survivor of CSA in Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were used within qualitative method for in-depth exploration of the same. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 8 non-reported adult survivors of CSA including 4 males and 4 females. Analysis of in-depth interviews using Interpretetive Phenomenological Analysis, indicated a number of cultural barriers for not disclosing abuse to any authorities and not seeking any legal or therapeutic assistance. Participants reported self-harming behaviors leading to suicidal ideation and attempts. It was revealed that childhood sexual abuse had critical emotional and psychological impact on varied domains of survivors’ life causing trust issues and suppression of emotions, thereby leading to further problems. Use of adaptive coping strategies such as positive reframing, positive growth and support seeking also at times got overshadowed by the traumatic impact of CSA. The study concluded that there is a dire need of awareness in order to manage and prevent Child Sexual Abuse at country level.
Description
Supervised by: Ms. SairaMunsaf Khan
Keywords
Child Sexual Abuse, Prevalence, Psychological Effects, BS Thesis