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“All of Me Is Completely Different”: Experiences and Consequences Among Victims of Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to gain a first-person perspective on the experiences of technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA), and a deeper understanding of the way it may affect its victims. Seven young women (aged 17–24) with experience of TA-CSA before the age of 18 participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were teller-focused with the aim of capturing the interviewee’s own story about how they made sense of their experiences over time, and what impact the victimization had on them in the short and long terms. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed a broad range of abusive experiences that had profoundly impacted the individuals’ lives, health and self-concepts. Three dominant themes emerged from the analysis – From thrilling to abusive, Negative effect on health and wellbeing, and A new self after the abuse. From thrilling to abusive captures the wide range of experiences described, starting from the child’s own sexual curiosity to descriptions of having been manipulated or threatened into engaging in sexual activity, as well as the sometimes long and complex process of understanding the severity of one’s experiences. Negative effect on health and wellbeing describes the victimization’s comprehensive impact on the life and health of the participants, how they blamed themselves for what had happened, and the struggle of having to live with the constant fear of pictures from the abuse resurfacing. A new self after the abuse depicts how the victimization impacted the way participants viewed and thought about themselves in relation to others, and distorted their views of their bodies. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on both offline CSA and TA-CSA, as well as theoretical and practical implications.

SUBMITTER: Joleby M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7750528 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background: There is a dearth of research which explores sexual abuse from perspectives of Caribbean women, despite its high prevalence in the region. While sexual violence is universal, tackling it requires a deep understanding of the contextual specificities in which it arises and of the intersections of gender with other sources of oppression and marginalisation. It also calls for the recognition that intimate partner violence against women is not separate from, but linked to violence against girls, not only because both are forms of gender-based violence but because together they speak to its historical, persistent and accumulative effects. Methods: In-depth intensive interviews were carried out with 35 women from Barbados and Grenada, aged 18-60 years who had experienced intimate partner violence under one of the following circumstances: during pregnancy (n = 15), as a woman a with disability (n = 8), as a woman living with HIV (n = 12). Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed. Results: The participants experienced multiple forms of violence within their relationships, often concurrently. Twenty-one of the women had been subject to sexual violence and of these, 19 had experienced sexual abuse as children; these experiences were viewed as interconnected and bolstered by the high level of violence-acceptance reported within communities. Women were subject to different forms of control by their partners depending upon prevailing discourses related to their circumstances (as pregnant, disabled, or HIV positive); being 'vulnerable' was synonymous with having one's agency as an independent, autonomous person constrained and little external help was available. Conclusion: The study identified a clear chain of sexual behaviors, each of which fuel different layers of the problem: the prevalence of early sexualization of children is associated with the prevalence of child sexual abuse; child sexual abuse is pervasive in large part, because of the normalisation and social acceptance of violence against women and girls; "cultural" normalcy, in turn, fuels attitudes which contribute to sexual violence against women and women in especially vulnerable circumstances face additional risks. Integrated policy, which tackles these as interconnected issues is called for.

Project description:Sexual abuse contributes to the development of multiple forms of psychopathology, including anxiety and depression, but the extent to which genetics contributes to these disorders among sexual abuse victims remains unclear. In this translational study, we first examined gene expression in the brains of rodents exposed to different early-life conditions (long, brief or no maternal separation). Hypothesizing that genes revealing changes in expression may have relevance for psychiatric symptoms later in life, we examined possible association of those genes with symptoms of anxiety and depression in a human sample of sexual abuse victims. Changes in rodent brain gene expression were evaluated by means of correspondence and significance analyses of microarrays by comparing brains of rodents exposed to different early-life conditions. Tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of resulting candidate genes were genotyped and tested for their association with symptoms of anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) in a sample of 361 sexual abuse victims, using multinomial logistic regression. False discovery rate was applied to account for multiple testing in the genetic association study, with q-value of 0.05 accepted as significant. We identified four genes showing differential expression among animals subjected to different early-life conditions as well as having potential relevance to neural development or disorders: Notch1, Gabrr1, Plk5 and Zfp644. In the human sample, significant associations were observed for two NOTCH1 tag SNPs: rs11145770 (OR=2.21, q=0.043) and rs3013302 (OR=2.15, q=0.043). Our overall findings provide preliminary evidence that NOTCH1 may be implicated in the susceptibility to anxiety and depression among sexual abuse victims. The study also underscores the potential importance of animal models for future studies on the health consequences of early-life stress and the mechanisms underlying increased risk for psychiatric disorders.

Project description:Obstacles in dealing with child sexual abuse (CSA) can hinder survivors in the process of coming to terms with their experiences. The present study aims to identify and analyze factors that may pose obstacles in the long-term process of dealing with CSA. It is part of a larger research consortium "Auf-Wirkung," funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and was conducted in cooperation with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany (IICSAG). The IICSAG was appointed by the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues and the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth in 2016. To determine responsibilities, recognize injustice, and further acknowledge the survivors of CSA in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Independent Inquiry has held 1,303 private sessions with survivors of CSA by Oct. 17th, 2020. The present study focuses on exploring reoccurring problematic experiences reported by survivors in private sessions regarding the long-term process of dealing with experiences of CSA. A total of 30 transcripts of private sessions, conducted by members and appointees of the IICSAG between September 2016 and June 2019, were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Attendants of private sessions described a variety of obstacles, including negative social reactions to disclosure, institutions' unwillingness to elucidate occurrences of CSA within their midst, as well as general financial difficulties, and those linked to redress claims. Manipulative grooming by perpetrators and limited access to adequate psychotherapy were perceived as obstructive by survivors dealing with CSA. In the context of criminal proceedings, survivors reported long durations of court proceedings and negative experiences in connection to credibility assessment. Results will be discussed to better support survivors of CSA in the process of dealing with their experiences in the future.

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“All of Me Is Completely Different”: Experiences and Consequences Among Victims of Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse

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