Emotional Repercussion in Children Victims of Sexual Abuse: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Sexual abuse is a phenomenon that affects different spheres of a person's life, especially in the emotional field. It is observed that society is organized through social roles, which establish expectations about the behavior of individuals. The objective of the study was to understand the emotional repercussions of sexual abuse on children and adolescents, analyzing the influence of gender roles on this event. The research was framed as a narrative literature review, of an exploratory nature, the data collection took place in the following databases: PUBMED, LILACS, CAPES, SCIELO and PEPSIC. The descriptors used to search for data were "sexual abuse", "children" and "emotional". The present study found that the consequences produced by sexual abuse are related to the manifestation of symptoms characteristic of nosological conditions. It is understood that these behaviors come in an intensified way and cause harm in several aspects required for the development of these subjects. The other outcomes suggest that children and adolescents who are victims of abuse exhibit behavioral changes, and these changes are presented as difficulty understanding aspects about sexuality, concerns about body image and inability to interact with the changes generated by development, evocation of behaviors non-suicidal and suicidal selfharm and experiences of negative affect. It is concluded that a tiny amount of research that met the criteria analyzed the behavioral and emotional repercussions in light of gender roles. The consequences entailed, for the most part, are perceived as generalizable to boys and girls.