The role of culture in Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) disclosure experiences from the perspectives of youth

There are three main gaps within the child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure literature that this thesis aims to address namely 1) the absence of diverse populations in children and adolescents’ under study for CSA disclosure, 2) the lack of focus on how culture impacts help CSA disclosure processes and finally 3) the omission of the voices of youth broadly, in the CSA literature. Groundwork has been laid in regard to the influence of culture on CSA disclosure. However, culture has often been framed in reference to, and/or synonymous with, demographic categories. These categorizations of culture in the CSA literature provide some insights into the experiences of specific groups. However, the insights gained are juxtaposed against the study of culture as a monolithic entity and fails to provide a rich analysis of culture as being an interactional component in people’s lives. Therefore, the role of culture in CSA disclosure requires ongoing research; more specifically seminal authors in the field of culture and CSA Fontes and Plummer (2010) argued CSA research is needed that expands beyond categorizations which includes numerous facets of culture. The goal of this thesis is to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of culture in CSA disclosures among a culturally diverse population of youth. Grounded from a framework of cultural psychology, this thesis answered the following research questions: (1) how culture has been studied thus far in relation to disclosure of CSA; (2) how culture shaped experiences of CSA disclosure from the perspectives of youth and (3) what common cultural themes emerged as promoting or inhibiting CSA disclosure. The first manuscript is a systematic review of existing literature and concluded that: (1) “culture” has been largely been framed to date with categorical descriptors of ethnicity or religion and (2) some CSA disclosure barriers transcended the ethnic and racial categorizations and were grouped into nine themes: the code of silence, cultural shame, fear of the police or the justice system, family preservation, historical oppression and trauma, lack of resources, protection of the offender, fear of retribution and gender roles. Manuscripts two and three were both based on a qualitative study that involved nine sexually abused youth from diverse cultural backgrounds in Ottawa, Canada. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted to gather data from participants. Descriptive psychological phenomenology was used as research methodology to gather, organize and analyze data to formulate conclusions. The second manuscript was informed by the research question, “how does culture shape experiences of CSA disclosure from the perspectives of youth”, and concluded: The results of the study in regard to the research question revealed that: (1) participants narratives of culture extend beyond categorizations (2) culture determined how participants understood CSA and how they trusted others to disclose (3) disclosure was a process and finally (4) cultural beliefs shifted as a result of CSA experiences.. The conclusions of the third manuscript, were informed by the research question, “what common themes emerged as promoting or inhibiting disclosure, in relation to culture?” concluded: (1) common cultural barriers to disclosure included: lack of sexual education, lack of support, mistrust of authority and intrapersonal feelings around the abuse and (2) more unique barriers related to culture were identified as social economic status, facing discrimination through the lifespan, communal environments, religious beliefs and female oppression. This thesis’ findings highlight the importance for researchers, clinicians, and recipients of disclosure alike to build rapport that is inclusive of understanding victims’ culture. Furthermore, people in positions of authority such as police and child protection workers need to be acutely aware of the role of power dynamics across different cultures

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