A survey of children's beliefs, expectations and preferences about the consequences of disclosing intrafamilial abuse
The present study investigates the attitudes and beliefs of children about potentially disclosing intrafamilial abuse. The sample was drawn from the peri-urban settlement of Mdantsane and the rural villages of Nowawe. A pilot study involving 28 children in qualitative interviews was conducted. Content analysis of these answers were used to compile a questionnaire which was administered to 489 children by locally trained fieldworkers. The questionnaire contained questions pertaining to demographics, health, social support, and closed-ended Likert scales for the measurement of beliefs and intentions about disclosing intrafamilial abuse. Two open-ended questions were included to investigate children's preferences about the outcome of disclosing abuse. Children's experience of safety in and out of home, as well as their preferences about who to disclose to, were also measured. Questions pertaining to family and to abuse were asked in a way that allowed individual children to define the parameters of these concepts rather than assuming definitions for them. The results were analysed descriptively for the total sample. Where the data was examined for relationships and differences according to age, sex and where the children lived, Chi-square and ANOV A tests were conducted. In the case of significant findings, post-hoc analysis was carried out using residual analysis and the Newman-Keuls procedure, respectively. The findings revealed that 88% of the sample intended to report intrafamilial abuse if this happened to them, but only half expected to be believed. Strong variations in beliefs and intentions were found to exist on the basis of where children lived, with children from the poorest and oldest settlement in Mdantsane consistently emerging as less trusting of their environment and therefore less able to seek help, as compared to children living in the informal settlement or the affluent neighbourhood. Older children were found to differ from younger ones on the basis of being less confident that they would be believed if they were to disclose. The main difference between male and female children involved variations in their beliefs about whether there would be consequences for the abuser and themselves if they reported abuse. Overall, the degree of duality and contradictions as regards how children wanted to respond to intrafamilial abuse, and what they believed to be the consequences of disclosing this, point to the importance of developing services that can adapt to differences between communities and groupings within these communities rather than responding in a homogenous manner to all incidents of child abuse. Limitations associated with survey methodology and interviewer bias are acknowledged.
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