Bridging the Gap: Understanding non-offending parental responses to their children's sexual abuse.

<p>The parental response to children's disclosure of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is the most critical and important factor regarding the child's post trauma trajectory and overall trauma resolution. Understanding parental responses and the factors that prompt acceptance versus disbelief among the non-offending parent (NOP) is vital to children's success following disclosure given the weight of the NOPs response and its impact on long-term consequences of CSA. This literature review provides a comprehensive summary of what may deter the NOP from recognizing intrafamilial sexual abuse, factors that may contribute to the NOPs disbelief following disclosure, and possible clinical implications of such information. It was found that there may be several deterrents regarding recognizing CSA such as the child's presentation during periods of abuse, the perpetrator's grooming techniques, socioeconomic factors, and the presence of maladaptive coping skills among the NOP. Further, several possible factors that contribute to the NOPs disbelief following the child's disclosure were identified such as the NOPs relationship with the perpetrator, the NOP-child relationship, the NOPs mental health and degree of functioning, and the child's decision not to disclose.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - Public Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clinical Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• LaTreill, Psy.D., Jennifer

Contributors dc:contributor

• Christina Brown, Psy.D.
• Marcia Pita, Ph.D.

• childhood sexual abuse
• intrafamilial sexual abuse
• non-offending mother
• parental responses
• betrayal trauma
• CSA
• non-offending parent
• Child Psychology
• Clinical and Medical Social Work
• Counseling
• Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling
• Other Psychiatry and Psychology
• Other Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Psychology
• Social Work

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/490

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.nl.edu:diss-1532