1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This study aimed to explore the social relationships of child victims of sexual abuse using both self-reports and teachers’ ratings.» (p. 326)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Participants were 93 child victims of sexual abuse and a comparison group of 75 nonvictims.» (p. 326)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The results of this investigation support that young victims differ significantly from their nonabused peers in terms of interpersonal relationships at the time of CSA [child sexual abuse] discovery. Results first confirmed that children in the CSA group were reported by their teachers as displaying significantly greater social difficulties than children with no known history of CSA.» (p. 336) «The severity of the sexual abuse contributed to predict children’s feeling of being different and reduced interpersonal trust (more severe sexual abuse being associated to higher feeling of being different from others and to a reduced interpersonal trust). Intrafamilial abuse also predicted less difficulty in interpersonal trust.» (p. 334) «The specific dynamic of stigmatization identified by Finkelhor and Browne (1985) did not seem to contribute to the self-reported measures of social adaptation at the time of the disclosure. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that stigmatization occurs longer after the CSA experience as children encounter family and societal reactions (Finkelhor & Browne, 1985), which underscores the importance of longitudinal studies.» (p. 337) «Indeed, children’s family and siblings may serve as emotional buffers, and satisfactory home relationships may compensate for difficulties in peer relationships (Asher et al., 1984).» (p. 340)