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Sexual Abuse Trauma Among Chinese Survivors

NCJ Number
175726
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 22 Issue: 10 Dated: October 1998 Pages: 1013-1026
Author(s)
E L Tsun-yin
Date Published
1998
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article examines post-abuse trauma among Chinese child and adolescent survivors of sexual abuse.
Abstract
This study applied Finkelhor and Browne's (1985) traumagenic dynamics model to examine post-abuse trauma among Chinese child and adolescent survivors in Taiwan. It was based on in-depth interviews with 19 survivors of, and three social workers on, sexual abuse. The interviews were guided by a semi-structured questionnaire on sexual abuse incidents and post-abuse responses and concerns. Sexual stigmatization and a sense of disempowerment and betrayal was the most pervasive trauma complex among the survivors. In addition to lowering self-esteem, sexual stigmatization resulted in polarized sexuality among adolescent survivors, as manifested in their aversion to and preoccupation with sexuality. Abuse-induced disempowerment was manifested in survivors' fear for personal safety and heightened sense of vulnerability to revictimization. The sense of betrayal resulted in interpersonal difficulties as manifested in self-imposed isolation from others and/or suspicious attitudes toward others, which further impaired the survivor's efficacy in meeting her abuse-induced clinging need. Sexual stigmatization as the most prevailing post-abuse trauma among Chinese sexual abuse survivors reflects the patriarchal fetish for female chastity in the Chinese cultural construction of sexual victimization. Table, references