Summary

Disclosure is the process by which youth come to tell others about being sexually abused (or being at risk thereof) and is critical to stopping the abuse and activating legal and therapeutic interventions. Disclosing can be complicated and challenging for youth due in part to uncertainties they may have around what will happen after they disclose. Most youth (60-80%) who experience sexual abuse do not disclose until adulthood, and many never do at all. Prompting or directly asking children about possible abuse experiences, providing developmentally appropriate information about sexual abuse, and offering positive emotional support, among other factors, may increase the likelihood that a child will disclose.

About Disclosure

Child sexual abuse is underreported and under-recorded and often goes unnoticed.12 Therefore, a child’s own disclosure of experiencing abuse is arguably the most critical step in stopping the abuse as well as activating legal and therapeutic interventions.134 Disclosure is the process whereby a young person comes to tell others about being sexually abused or being at risk to be sexually abused.

Disclosure refers to the process of coming to tell others that one has been sexually abused, or senses they are at risk of being sexually abused.

While some definitions of disclosure only refer to reports to authorities, disclosure more generally can include a young person telling a trusted adult, parent, or peer about the abuse.

Disclosure Processes in Youth

Disclosure is a process, not a singular event.56 This means that disclosures often occur over a period of time and are impacted by external factors, such as relationships and life circumstances. These factors can include the child’s relationship to the abuser, the child’s fear of disrupting the survivor’s home life, or negatively impacting other family members. A child’s decision to disclose is often complicated due to their uncertainty of what will happen after the disclosure.

Types of abuse disclosure

Children disclose abuse experiences in a multitude of ways. Abuse disclosures have been described as varying along several dimensions, such as:

• Purposeful or accidental;
• Spontaneous or prompted/elicited;
• Explicit or vague1

Descriptions of disclosure not only vary by intent, spontaneity, and detail, but are also impacted by factors such as age, developmental factors, and the child's relationship with the abuser.1 Some children intentionally disclose, while many accidentally reveal information which leads others to discover the abuse.

Some children intentionally disclose, while many accidentally reveal information which leads others to discover the abuse.

Children often make disguised disclosures where they indicate they do not want to go someplace they have gone previously or no longer want to have contact with someone they have spent time with in the past. Occasionally abuse is discovered rather than disclosed. Abuse is discovered when the victim and offender are observed in suspicious behavior or evidence such as messages between offender and victim are found.   

Since it is impossible to anticipate how or when a child will disclose, it is important to pay attention and respond to children with supportive interest and concern when abuse is suspected, or when a child makes a disguised or explicit disclosure. Adult responses to disclosure help facilitate a child’s willingness to tell what happened. Many children will disclose in a piecemeal fashion to test others' responses prior to full disclosure. Due to the multiple hurdles that children face in the disclosure process, the first step in identifying whether a child may have been abused is to maintain a supportive attitude as well as ongoing knowledge of the adults with whom the child comes in contact. 

Delayed Disclosure

Many youth who experience abuse delay disclosure, or never disclose at all. As many as 60–80% of CSA survivors delay disclosure into adulthood78

As many as 60–80% of CSA survivors do not disclose abuse until adulthood.

These findings suggest that youth experience prolonged victimization or do not receive necessary interventions.  

Youth who are abused by family members tend to delay disclosure even longer than those who experience extra-familial abuse4910 Some youth try to build trust by making indirect attempts at disclosure before a more overt disclosure. This process can also contribute to time delays between the abuse experience and a formal, explicit disclosure.11

Facilitators and Barriers to Disclosure

Due to the importance of disclosure in stopping abuse from occurring, it is critical to understand what factors facilitate and impede young people from disclosing abuse. Recent research has identified a range of factors that prevent or support abuse disclosure.12

Barriers to disclosure of child sexual abuse:

• Anticipation of negative social reactions, including perceived limited support and lack of understanding from adults (including parents and professionals).
• Fear of negative consequences for oneself and others, such as losing familial support, ruined reputation, social shame, violating family honor, or being killed.
• Fear of negative consequences for the suspected offender (such as imprisonment) or for their family (such as breaking up the family).
• Feelings of guilt, shame, and somehow feeling responsible for the perpetrator’s actions. 
• Fear that whatever the offender said would happen if the child told will happen.12 

Facilitators to disclosure of child sexual abuse:

Being prompted or asked directly about possible abuse experiences is the most commonly identified facilitator to disclosure. This is especially true if the disclosure is received by someone the child trusts, indicating that close relationships may also play an important role in facilitating disclosure. Other facilitators include:

• Providing children with developmentally appropriate information about sexual abuse;
• The victim not feeling any guilt or shame;
• Receiving positive emotional support;
• If the abuse was extra-familial.12 

Asking or prompting someone directly about possible abuse experiences is the most commonly identified facilitator to disclosure.

Factors that Impact Disclosure

A multitude of factors can impact a child’s disclosure. These include:

• Age
  • Younger children are less likely to disclose than older children.13 
  • Preschool children more likely to disclose accidentally; school-aged children more likely to disclose purposefully.6
• Gender
  • Boys appear to be more reluctant to disclose than girls91114
  • On average, men delay disclosure of abuse for 21 years.15
• Disability
  • Children with disabilities are more likely to delay or fail to disclose abuse due to:16
    • Societal stigma and discrimination;
    • Negative beliefs, ignorance within communities;
    • Lack of social support for caregivers;
    • Type of impairment;
    • Heightened vulnerability due to increased care needs
• Proximity to perpetrator
  • Children who are abused by a family member are less likely to disclose, and more likely to delay disclosure, than those abused by someone outside the family101417
• Type of Abuse
  • Girls who experience non-contact abuse are more likely to disclose than girls exposed to contact CSA, with and without penetration.18
• Culture, Race, Ethnicity
  • Disclosure may be more difficult in cultures that hold negative attitudes and taboos about sexuality, and that highly value the preservation of the family119  
  • Discrimination, migration, and poverty also can serve as barriers to disclosure.19 
  • Cultural norms (such as shame, taboos and modesty, sexual scripts, and the value of virginity) can affect the likelihood that child sexual abuse will be discovered by an adult or disclosed by a child, and whether the child’s family will report the abuse to authorities.20 
  • Structural barriers to disclosure can include a lack of linguistic competence in investigations and interventions, lack of resources and documents in families’ native languages, unjust immigration laws, racism, lack of adequate health insurance, and economic barriers.20

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• 3. Alaggia, R. (2004). ‘Many ways of telling: Expanding conceptualizations of child sexual abuse disclosure’, Child Abuse & Neglect 28(11): 1213-27.
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• 5. Alaggia, R., Collin-Vézina, D., & Lateef, R. (2019). Facilitators and barriers to child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosures: A research update (2000–2016). Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 20(2), 260-283.
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• 11. a. b. Ungar, M., Barter, K., McConnell, S., Tutty, L.M., & Fairholm, J. (2009). Patterns of abuse disclosure among youth. Qualitative Social Work 8(3): 341-356.
• 12. a. b. c. Lemaigre, C., Taylor, E., & Gittoes, C. (2017). Barriers and facilitators to disclosing sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 70: 39-52.
• 13. McElvaney, R. (2015). Disclosure of child sexual abuse: Delays, non-disclosure and partial disclosure. What the research tells us and implications for practice. Child Abuse Review 24: 159-159.
• 14. a. b. Goodman-Brown, T. B., Edelstein, R. S., Goodman, G. S., Jones, D. P. H., & Gordon, D. S. (2003). Why children tell: A model of children’s disclosure of sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 525–540.
• 15. Easton, S. D. (2013). Disclosure of child sexual abuse among adult male survivors. Clinical Social Work Journal, 41(4), 344-355.
• 16. Jones, L., Bellis, M.A., Wood, S., Hughes, K., McCoy, E., Eckley, L., & Officer, A. (2012). Prevalence and risk of violence against children with disabilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. The Lancet, 380(9845), 899-907.
• 17. Smith, D.W., Letourneau, E.J., Saunders, B.E., Kilpatrick, D.G., Resnick, H.S., & Best, C.L. (2000). Delay in disclosure of childhood rape: Results from a national survey. Child Abuse & Neglect 24: 273-287.
• 18. Priebe, G., & Svedin, C. G. (2008). Child sexual abuse is largely hidden from the adult society: An epidemiological study of adolescents’ disclosures. Child abuse & neglect, 32(12), 1095-1108.
• 19. a. b. Fontes, L.A. (1993). Disclosures of sexual abuse by Puerto Rican children: Oppression and cultural barriers. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2(1), 21-35.
• 20. a. b. Fontes, L.A. & Plummer, C. (2010). Cultural Issues in Disclosures of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 19(5), 491-518.