The study gathered representative data from 3,220 women regarding the length of time women who were raped before age 18 delayed disclosing such rapes, to whom they disclosed, and variables that predicted disclosure within 1 month. Of the women surveyed, 288 retrospectively reported at least one rape prior to their 18th birthday. Fully 28 percent of child rape victims had never told anyone about the incident prior to the research interview; 47 percent did not disclose for over 5 years post-rape. Close friends were the most common confidants. Younger age at the time of rape, family relationship with the perpetrator and experiencing a series of rapes were associated with disclosure latencies longer than 1 month; shorter delays were associated with stranger rapes. Logistic regression revealed that age at rape and knowing the perpetrator were independently predictive of delayed disclosure. The study demonstrates clearly that the large majority of women who experience childhood rapes do not disclose the events to others soon after they occur. A large proportion of women may never tell about the experiences unless specifically asked. That only two variables -- age at first/only rape and rape by a stranger -- were independently associated with disclosure within 1 month suggests that researchers have a poor understanding of what leads some children to disclose and others to keep silent and the topic requires continued investigation. Tables, references