Telling a trusted adult: Factors associated with the likelihood of disclosing child sexual abuse prior to and during a forensic interview
Open accessAbstract
Background Many child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors delay or withhold disclosure of their abuse, even when presenting for formal investigation interviews.Objective This study examined factors that relate to the CSA disclosure process.Participants and settings Participants were CSA victims (N = 1,732) presenting to a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) for a forensic interview.Method We tested a structural model to predict disclosure before and during a forensic interview using secondary data analysis.Results Youth were less likely to disclose before a forensic interview if they witnessed domestic violence (β = -.233, p < .05). Caregivers were less likely to believe the abuse allegation if the alleged perpetrator resided in the home β = -.386, p < .05) and more likely to believe if the youth made a prior disclosure (β = .286, p < .05). Youth were more likely to disclose during the forensic interview if they were older (β = .388, p < .05), if the alleged perpetrator resided in their home (β = .209, p < .05), if they disclosed prior (β = .254, p < .05), and if their caregiver believed the allegation (β = .213, p < . 05). The alleged perpetrator residing in the youth's home (β = -0.082, p < .05) and making a prior disclosure (β = 0.060, p < .05) were both indirectly associated with forensic interview disclosure through caregiver belief.Conclusions Findings highlight the importance of the family context and caregiver belief in the disclosure process for youth involved in formal CSA investigations.
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Children are more likely to disclose abuse when supported by a validating caregiver.
“Children are more likely to disclose abuse when supported by a validating caregiver [51]”
From ‘We don’t talk about that around here’: an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of South Asian male survivors’ experiences of childhood sexual abuse in the UK (2025) · cites this paper as [51]
The Discussion (page not supplied) reports that youth presenting to child advocacy centers were more likely to disclose during a forensic interview when their caregiver indicated belief in the abuse allegation. The claim extends that finding to disclosure generally and uses broader caregiver validation in place of the measured caregiver belief. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Widanaralalage, B. K., Jennings, S., Dando, C. J., & Mackenzie, J.-M. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-02706-z · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Children are more likely to disclose abuse when supported by a validating caregiver [51], whereas those lacking support– as often the case in this study - delay disclosure until adulthood, navigating entrenched familial and cultural barriers.”
- Authors
- Grandgenett, H. M., Pittenger, S. L., Dworkin, E. R., & Hansen, D. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Yale University (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grandgenett, Hanna M.
- Venue
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-06
- Volume
- 116
- Issue
- Pt 1
- Pages
- 104193
- ISSN
- 0145-2134 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7089833
- OpenAlex
- W2976716031
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 1.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Child Abuse & Neglect (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Lincoln (University of Nebraska) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Military, Security, and Education Studies
- Keywords
- child sexual abuse, disclosure, forensic interviewing, child advocacy centers, domestic violence exposure, family environment, abuse investigation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Sexual, Child Advocacy, Humans, Self Disclosure, Disclosure
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