Children’s Disclosures of Physical Abuse in a Population-Based Sample

Abstract

<jats:p> Few studies have explored the disclosure of child physical abuse although child sexual abuse disclosure has been widely studied and debated for years. The present study explores the characteristics of child physical abuse disclosures and compares them to previously published findings on child sexual abuse disclosure from the same data. The data consist of a representative sample of 11,364 sixth and ninth graders. Participants responded to a wide variety of questions concerning experiences of violence, including child physical abuse and child sexual abuse, in the Finnish Child Victim Survey conducted in 2013. Within this sample, the prevalence of child physical abuse was 4.1%. Children reporting abuse experiences also responded to questions regarding disclosure, reactions encountered during disclosure, and potential reasons for nondisclosure. Findings show that most of the children who disclosed physical violence had disclosed to their mother. The overall disclosure rate of child physical abuse was 74%. However, only 42% had disclosed to adults, and even fewer had reported their experiences to authorities (12%). The most common reason for nondisclosure was that the youth did not consider the experience sufficiently serious to report (53%). These findings were largely in line with the child sexual abuse disclosure rates in our previous study. Analyses of variables associated with disclosing to an adult indicate that the strongest factors predicting disclosure to an adult are younger age, female gender, no previous experiences of child physical abuse, and parents knowing who their child spends her or his spare time with. Implications for further research and practice are discussed. </jats:p>

“They Aren’t Going to Do Jack Shit”: Text-Based Crisis Service Users’ Perceptions of Seeking Child Maltreatment-Related Support From Formal Systems

“…Finally, our results suggest that a segment of young people who seek support from local adults do not receive supportive responses, nor does their situation change. Although our study is not able to evaluate the frequency at which this occurs, other studies suggest negative disclosure experiences are common (Jernbro et al, 2017;Lahtinen et al, 2020;McGuire & London, 2020). Thus, it may also be necessary for our systems that engage with young people, including the child protection system, to examine their current practices.…”

“…Other common reasons for not reporting included being embarrassed, being afraid to get in trouble or upset the abuser, or because they did not want the abuser to get in trouble. A study among Finnish young people found similar reasons for nondisclosure, including perceptions that their experiences were not serious, that disclosure would not result in help, or that others would not be interested in their experiences ( Lahtinen et al, 2020 ). Studies in other locations across multiple decades have found similar perceptions among young people ( Jensen et al, 2005 ; Jernbro et al, 2017 ; Palmer et al, 1999 ).…”

“…In another Canadian study, adults who were maltreated as children reported that they had disclosed to their parents more frequently than they disclosed to their friends or peers ( Palmer et al, 1999 ). In Sweden and Finland, approximately 10% of young people disclosed to a professional ( Jernbro et al, 2017 ; Lahtinen et al., 2020 ). In South Africa, only 20% of maltreated children shared their experiences with anyone, with caregivers and teachers receiving the most disclosures ( Meinck et al, 2017 ).…”

Creating and Maintaining Structural Hindrances to Criminal Justice Control – A Policy Analysis on the Normalisation of Parental Violence as a Crime in Finland

“…Therefore, authorities with a duty to report child abuse and intervene are perceived of as the gatekeepers of children’s safety and wellbeing (Ashton, 1999). Yet, child-victim surveys show that only a small fraction of children’s experiences of victimisation are acknowledged by authorities (Bunting, 2014; Lahtinen et al, 2020); hence, highlighting the importance of effective intervention policies and clearly stated responsibilities in this context.…”

Use of Self-Figure Drawing as an Assessment Tool for Child Abuse: Differentiating between Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Abuse

“…Several studies found that the most common self-reported reason for non-disclosure is that many children considered their experiences of violence not to be serious enough to report. They do not recognize their experiences as abusive or view some of the abusive acts as a normal part of everyday life [ 47 , 48 ].…”