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Disclosure Failures: Statistics, Characteristics, and Strategies to Address Them

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Forensic Interviews Regarding Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Provided in this chapter are estimates of the numbers of true sexual abuse cases in which children deny abuse, the reasons these children do not disclose, predictors of disclosure failure, and strategies that may facilitate disclosure of sexual abuse. The chapter relies upon both research and practice knowledge. The research is comprised of both quantitative and qualitative studies with a primary focus on field research rather than analogue studies. Much of the knowledge about denial of sexual abuse derives from literature on children and youth who eventually disclose their abuse. In the interest of parsimony, citations will not be exhaustive and will emphasize recent findings. Often, illustrative research, but not the entire body of supportive findings for an assertion or observation, will be presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1106, USA

    Kathleen Coulborn Faller

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  1. Kathleen Coulborn Faller
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Correspondence to Kathleen Coulborn Faller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada , Department of Psychology, RENO, Nevada, USA

    William T. O'Donohue

  2. Department of Psychology, Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, USA

    Matthew Fanetti

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Faller, K.C. (2016). Disclosure Failures: Statistics, Characteristics, and Strategies to Address Them. In: O'Donohue, W., Fanetti, M. (eds) Forensic Interviews Regarding Child Sexual Abuse. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21097-1_7

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