Narratives of Mothers Whose Children Had Been Sexually Abused: Maternal Reactions and Comprehension Regarding Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Child and adolescent sexual abuse is considered to be a serious public health concern and a devastating form of violence with serious physical, mental, and behavioral consequences in the short and long term. This qualitative study aimed to identify maternal reactions to the disclosure of sexual violence and explore the comprehension regarding child and adolescent sexual abuse held by the mothers of child victims. Twelve mothers were interviewed, whose children had experienced a situation of sexual abuse and were receiving psychosocial care in a municipality in southern region of Brazil. The collected data were organized and analyzed using the principles of Grounded Theory with the Atlas.ti 7.5.7 software. From the analysis of the narratives, three main categories emerged: mothers with positive reactions, mothers with ambivalent reactions, and mothers with negative reactions. Mothers that presented positive reactions believed the report and supported their children, showing a comprehension that sexual abuse can occur in different ways and not only when there is penetration. The participants that had ambivalent reactions oscillated between maintaining or breaking off the relationship with the perpetrator of the violence, expressed initial disbelief regarding the report of the abused child, and had a comprehension that sexual abuse could be a form of affection. Mothers that had a negative reaction to the disclosure of abuse presented a contradictory narrative, minimizing the effects of the violence and placing the victims at fault regarding the abuse suffered. The importance of considering the possible relationships between the maternal comprehensions regarding child and adolescent sexual abuse and the reactions of these mothers during the professional intervention was demonstrated.

Keywords

child sexual abuse disclosure mothers comprehension stress reactions

Introduction

Child and adolescent sexual abuse is considered to be a serious public health concern and a devastating form of violence from a developmental point of view, with serious physical, mental, and behavioral consequences in the short and long term (Marra & Costa, 2018; World Health Organization [WHO], 2014). Worldwide, it is estimated that 8% to 31% of girls and 3% to 17% of boys suffer child and adolescent sexual abuse (Barth et al., 2013). Some countries have reported even higher rates of this type of violence among girls, such as Australia (37.8%) and Costa Rica (32.2%) (Singh et al., 2014). These figures are probably underestimated, since while one out of eight people retrospectively report having experienced sexual abuse when growing up, the official rates indicate that only one in 250 children suffer this violence (Alaggia et al., 2019).

Implying the violation of the intimate and personal limits of the child or adolescent, sexual abuse presupposes the imposition of behaviors of a sexual nature by a person in a more advanced stage of psychosexual development than the child. This violence takes place in a context of inequality or asymmetry of power, usually through deception, force, or manipulation. Child and adolescent sexual abuse can happen through direct sexual contact; however, it also occurs through activities without direct contact, such as exhibitionism, the exposure of the child or adolescent to pornographic material, or by including them in the production of visual material of a sexual content (López & Bartolomé, 2012; WHO, 1999).

It should be emphasized that there is still a lack of public knowledge in relation to the fact that sexual abuse does not necessarily involve penetration or even direct physical contact. A study conducted by Jayapalan et al. (2018) carried out with university students revealed that only one in three of the participants knew that there was direct and indirect sexual abuse and the majority of the study participants believed that, unless vaginal or anal intercourse had occurred, the act could not be defined as sexual abuse.

This comprehension was observed in cases of mothers whose children had been sexually abused: The abuse situations that involved voyeurism, exhibitionism, or touching were disregarded by the participants, who believed that sexual abuse only occurred when there was genital intercourse (DeAntoni et al., 2011). These authors also found that the participants in their study minimized, trivialized or naturalized the violence experienced by their children. This way of perceiving abuse reveals a lack of comprehension within these mothers, allowing their children to be exposed to new abusive situations. The way in which mothers and society as a whole understands the phenomenon of sexual abuse is important, as both assumptions and stereotypes about child and adolescent sexual abuse can influence the perception regarding the victims, as well as public policies that deal with this type of violence (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010).

The comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse can also influence people’s reactions to the disclosure of this violence (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010). The mothers of sexually abused children and adolescents are considered to have a fundamental role at the time of disclosure. The victims’ ability to overcome the experience of sexual abuse is associated with the fact that mothers believe their reports and also provide them with support (Alaggia, 2002a; Baía et al., 2014; Bick et al., 2014; Elliott & Carnes, 2001; Godbout et al., 2014; McCarthy et al., 2019; Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2013; Zajac et al., 2015).

Bolen’s (2002) review closely examined the construct of guardian support and found three indicators of support after the disclosure of sexual abuse: belief, emotional support, and actions against the perpetrator. Of 27 studies included in the review, 25% of nonoffending guardians were not supportive, 31% were partially supportive, and 44% were fully supportive (Bolen, 2002). Alaggia (2002a) points out that maternal support offered after disclosure can fluctuate enormously depending on the study and the sample, with between 27% and 80% of mothers being supportive of their sexually abused children.

Studies have found that some factors directly influence belief and support from mothers when the abuse is revealed, acting as predictors of credibility and support (Bolen & Lamb, 2002; Cyr et al., 2002; Everson et al., 1989; Faller, 1988; Heriot, 1996; Pintello & Zuravin, 2001; Rakovec-Felser & Vidovič, 2016; Salt et al., 1990). Mothers are more likely to believe and support their children when (a) the perpetrator of violence is not a current love partner or when there is no dependence or intimacy with him, (b) the victim of sexual abuse is less than 12 years old and/or has not yet reached adolescence, (c) the victim has no history of physical abuse or neglect, (d) the victim is male, (e) the victim does not show sexualized behavior, (f) sexual abuse did not include penetration, (g) the abuse did not last for many episodes or months, (h) the mother had no previous history of substance abuse, (i) the mother had her first child after reaching adulthood, and (j) when the child first disclosed the abuse to her mother.

However, maternal support is an intricate phenomenon and can still be related to many other variables which have not yet been exhaustively studied, such as mother’s mental health, occupational status, severity of the abuse, relationship between mother and child, disclose characteristics, and child’s symptoms (Cyr et al., 2002). Cyr and colleagues (2013) analyzed a total of 226 nonoffending mothers and examined the influence of several variables (PTSD symptoms, anger, avoidant coping, stressful situation, attitude toward child, neuroticism, past maltreatment, relations with birth family and social support) on the maternal support after the disclosure, creating four distinctive groups of mothers: resilient, avoidant-coping, traumatized, and anger-oriented reaction. Mothers who reported providing more support (resilient cluster) scored very low on most of the measures (e.g., stressful situations, avoidant coping, and neuroticism) and reported the fewest symptoms (e.g., PTSD and anger). Mothers who were less supportive (anger-oriented reaction cluster) scored highest on PTSD and anger, reported the highest level of conflict with the child, utilized avoidant coping strategies, and presented a high level of neuroticism traits (Cyr et al., 2013).

The term “support” is often used interchangeably with the terms “maternal reaction” and “response” in the literature regarding nonoffending caregivers (Alaggia, 2002a). Similarly, the different types of maternal reactions have been categorized in diversified ways. According to Alaggia (2002a), mothers can demonstrate “supportive” or “less supportive” responses after the abuse disclosure. While supportive responses encompass believing in the child’s story of sexual abuse, taking effective actions to protect her from further victimization, and offering positive emotional support, less supportive responses include disbelieving the child, not taking adequate action to protect her, or revealing feelings of anger or blame toward the child for disclosing or experiencing the sexual abuse (even if believing in her).

Another possible classification for maternal reactions according to the existing literature is of positive, negative, or neutral/ambivalent reactions (Jonzon & Lindbland, 2004; Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2009). Positive reactions are characterized by feelings of anger toward the perpetrator of violence and pity and sadness toward the victim. The mother’s attitudes are those of empathy, demonstrating a sensitivity to the victim’s feelings, an ability to listen, and an acceptance and belief in the victim’s report, along with encouraging the victim to speak out and offering help and support during this process. Positive reactions also relate to taking actions such as the confrontation and removal of the abuser, in addition to making efforts to stop the abuse.

However, negative reactions are characterized by feelings of anger toward the victim and doubts about their report, as well as avoidance behaviors such as not wanting to listen, incomprehension, and insensitivity. Mothers that react negatively can also minimize the abuse, advising the victim not to speak out and not offering any help or support. In addition, they may act in such a way as to abandon or cut contact with the victim. Neutral or ambivalent reactions have been identified by emotional responses and attitudes of indifference, by doubts about the report of the sexual abuse and by contradictory feelings toward the perpetrator of the violence (Jonzon & Lindbland, 2004; Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2009).

However, an ambivalent maternal response to the child’s disclosure may be normative, since support is a complex and multidimensional construct (Bolen, 2002). A caregiver may be unsupportive of the child and still take consistent actions against the perpetrator. In the same way, some mothers can be partially supportive of the child, but take inconsistent actions against the perpetrator. Still, another possibility for some mothers is to be supportive of her child, although without taking consistent actions against the offender, especially if they are unable to do so (Bolen & Lamb, 2004).

Despite the indication that maternal reactions influence the way the child or adolescent deals with sexual violence, in an analysis of the production of knowledge on this theme in the Brazilian context, few studies were found (Sufredini et al., 2016). Regarding maternal comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse, we currently are unaware of national or international studies published on this topic. Therefore, two key questions guided the development of this study: How do mothers react when they discover the sexual abuse experienced by a child? and How do mothers whose children have been sexually abused understand this violence? Accordingly, this study aimed to identify maternal reactions to the disclosure of sexual violence and explore the comprehension regarding child and adolescent sexual abuse held by the mothers of child victims. This study adds to the existing knowledge regarding maternal reactions to child and adolescent sexual abuse, thus providing support for professionals working in this area.

Method

The choice of the qualitative approach used in this study occurred as we sought to deepen our understanding of the meanings present in the narratives. This mainly involved highlighting the singularities of the participants, considering their histories and social contexts, and investigating through an in-depth process of interpretive analysis (Olabuénaga, 2009; Strauss & Corbin, 2008).

Participants and Study Context

Participants were mothers whose children experienced a situation of child and adolescent sexual abuse. All were attending one of the two existing care services (Specialized Social Assistance Reference Center [CREAS]) in Florianopolis, a municipality located in the southern region of Brazil. CREAS is a governmental service and the responsible agency for providing assistance to cases with suspicion or confirmation of sexual abuse of children and adolescents in Brazil (Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, 2014).

The number of participants was defined through the observation of thematic recurrence in the interviews, fulfilling the two aims and considering the study by Guest et al. (2006) that established data saturation from the 12th interview. The criteria for the inclusion of the participants were (a) mothers aged 18 years or over; (b) mothers receiving psychosocial care in the Protection Service (to ensure mothers would receive an appropriate care if experienced distress with the data collection); (c) the existence of a sexual abuse complaint concerning their children; (d) mothers with the cognitive and intellectual capacity for the interview, without severe mood disorder, anxiety, or other intense psychological distress (according to the opinion of the technical professionals who accompanied the family at the time of the data collection); and (e) at least 6 months had elapsed since the disclosure of the sexual abuse.

Procedures

After gaining the authorization of the Protection Services (CREAS), the professionals that attended the cases made the initial contact with each possible participant. In the cases of acceptance, they forwarded the contact to the main researcher, who explained the objectives of the study and scheduled the time, date, and place for an interview, according to the mothers’ preference.

Data were collected between April and September 2015. On April 2015, the two governmental services (CREAS I and II) had, respectively, 47 and 167 cases receiving follow-up for the reason of a suspicious or confirmation of sexual violence against a children or an adolescent. In meetings with the CREAS professionals, we were informed that several cases receiving follow-up did not meet the eligibility criteria, although the number of possible participants excluded by each criteria was not provided. According to the psychologists and social workers who were responsible for the care (and also to the participant’s recruitment), common reasons that prevented participation were as follows: there was no mother or person who assumed this maternal function in the family; the families were moving from one municipality to another and therefore were in the process of being disconnected from the Protection Service; mothers were severely depressed and showed no conditions to participate in the study; mothers did not believe in any possibility that the child had experienced sexual abuse and therefore were not able to answer the questions; and mothers refused to come to the service and the technical team had no form of contact to invite them to the study. As a result, of a total of 214 possible participants, only 16 initially agreed to participate on this study. However, four of them either did not attend the interview or canceled it, resulting in a total of 12 participants.

Of the 12 mothers that consented to participate in this study, nine were interviewed at the respective Protection Service in which they were treated. Two others preferred to be interviewed at home and one mother chose her workplace (a clinic) for the interview. The entire process was audio recorded and transcribed for the analysis.

Data Collection Instruments and Techniques

Before the interviews took place, the main researcher had access to the records of the cases/families receiving follow-up. These comprised the police, medical, psychological, and social reports. The previous analysis of these records contributed to a better understanding of the history of the abuse and the family care received, among other aspects of the family dynamics that might not appear during the interview.

A semi-structured interview script was used, aiming to elicit the narrative of the participants and to control the flow of the dialogue around the main focus of investigation (Moré, 2015). The interview script investigated the participants’ sociodemographic data and included a set of questions such as What was your reaction to discovering the sexual abuse? What is child sexual abuse for you? Or if it is easier, you can say a word or describe a situation to me that represents what sexual abuse is for you.

These questions generated two angular central themes, namely, (a) Description of the mother’s reaction after the abuse of the child was revealed and (b) The mother’s comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse.

Data Organization and Analysis

The data obtained were organized and analyzed based on Grounded Theory, from the constructivist perspective proposed by Charmaz (2009). Initially, open coding was performed, which consists of separating the data into parts with common aspects, as well as the differential characteristics among all the data obtained. Next, axial coding was performed, whereby the aspects identified in the open coding were regrouped making it possible to relate the categories with the subcategories of the analysis according to their specificities. Through selective coding, the data were integrated and refined based on the items identified, making it possible to relate the subcategories with elements of analysis that contributed to the support of the main categories (Strauss & Corbin, 2008). After this coding process, the data were organized into three categories, their respective subcategories and elements of analysis, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Categories, Subcategories, and Elements of Analysis.

Categories	Subcategories	Elements of Analysis
Mothers that had positive reactions	Reactions	• They believed the report of sexual abuse • They gave support • They took the child for the necessary care • They denounced the perpetrator of the violence • They broke off the relationship with the perpetrator of the violence
Mothers that had positive reactions	Comprehension of the sexual abuse	• Abuse can lead to insurmountable trauma • Children may have difficulty understanding what happened • Children do not lie in these situations • Sense of impunity for the perpetrator of the violence • Abuse is not only when there is penetration
Mothers that had ambivalent reactions	Reactions	• Initially they did not believe the report of abuse • They took the child for the necessary care • They denounced the perpetrator of the violence • They oscillated between moments when they broke off and other times when they resumed the relationship with the perpetrator of the violence
Mothers that had ambivalent reactions	Comprehension of the sexual abuse	• Abuse can be a way of showing affection • Difficulty in defining sexual abuse
Mother who had negative reactions	Reactions	• She did not believe the abuse report • She did not support the adolescent and blamed her for the abuse she suffered • She maintained a relationship with the perpetrator of the violence
Mother who had negative reactions	Comprehension of the sexual abuse	• Minimization of the impact of the sexual violence • Blaming of victims • Contradictory discourse

Considering the enormous range of existing maternal support classifications when unveiling the sexual abuse, we opted for using the same categories as previous Brazilian studies (Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2009). This is justified, given the similarity of context regarding the legal system, public health, and social assistance care. The three broad categories of maternal support (positive, ambivalent, and negative reactions) were based on the existing literature and the indicators of support: belief, emotional support, actions against the perpetrator, actions to effectively protect/help the child, and maintaining (or not) the relationship with the offender (when he was the mother’s partner). It is worth noticing that mothers were classified into the three categories of reactions based not only on their narratives but also considering the information collected on their Protection Service’s records.

To facilitate the presentation of the results obtained, the categories of each category were combined as follows: (a) Mothers that presented positive reactions and their comprehension of the sexual abuse, (b) Mothers that presented ambivalent reactions and their comprehension of the sexual abuse, and (c) Mothers that presented negative reactions and their comprehension of the sexual abuse.

The entire analysis process was facilitated using Atlas.ti 7.5.7 qualitative data analysis software.

Ethical Care

All the procedures were approved (under authorization number 1002922) and followed the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee for Research with Human Subjects of the State Health Department where this study took place and the University linked to the authors of this article. The consent form was signed by all the participants included in the study. To preserve the confidentiality, each of the 12 participants was identified by the letter P, followed by the interview order number and age (P1, P2, P3, and so on). The names of family members were exchanged for fictitious ones.

Results

The participants were between 27 and 68 years of age, showing different stages of development, and at different points in the family life cycle. Of the 12 participants, six had elementary education levels, four had completed high school, and two had finished technical school. Complete sociodemographic data of the participants, victims, and perpetrators of the abuse can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2.

Sociodemographic Data of the Participants, Victims, and Perpetrators of the Abuse.

Participant	Age	Education	Occupation	Marital Status	Victim’s Age and Sex	Author of the Abuse	Mother’s Reaction	Maternal History of Sexual Abuse
P1	37	High School	Teacher	Married	6/M	Grandmother’s partner	Positive	No
P2	38	High School	Unemployed	Single	8/F	Family friend	Positive	No
P3	42	Elementary education	Housewife	Married	14/F	Cousin	Positive	No
P4	39	Elementary education	Manicurist	Separated	9/F	Uncle	Positive	Yes
P5	55	Technical education	Therapist	Single	10/F	Stepfather	Ambivalent	Yes
P6	27	High School	Manager	Married	10/M	Father	Positive	No
P7	36	Elementary education	General services (sick leave)	Married	11/F	Grandmother’s partner	Positive	Yes
P8	41	Elementary education	General services (sick leave)	Separated	12/M	Schoolmate	Positive	No
P9	68	Elementary education	General services (retired)	Separated	7/F	Stepfather	Positive	Yes
P10	42	Technical education	Nursing technician (unemployed)	Married	9/F	Uncle	Ambivalent	Yes
P11	28	High School	Hairdresser (unemployed)	Married	4/F	Grandmother’s partner	Positive	Yes
P12	57	Elementary education	Cleaner	Widowed	14/F	Stepfather	Negative	No

Six participants were married and lived in nuclear arrangements. Three lived with the father of their children and three had remarried, forming new families. The other six participants were living in mononuclear family arrangements, in which they were the only ones responsible for their children and declared themselves single (2), widowed (1) or separated (3). Of these, two of the participants had broken off the relationship because the partners had been the perpetrators of sexual violence against their children.

Regarding the sexual abuse, it was found that in 10 of the 12 cases studied, the violence was perpetrated by a family member. These included the partner of the victim’s grandmother (3), the victim’s uncle (3), the victim’s stepfather (3), the victim’s father (1), and the victim’s cousin (1). One of the victims (daughter of P7) was sexually abused by two different people (grandmother’s partner and uncle). The mean age of the victims was 9.5 years, these being nine girls and three boys. The youngest victim was 4 years old, daughter of P1, and the oldest, 14 years old (daughters of P3 and P12). Of the 12 mothers, half (6) of them was also a victim of sexual abuse in the past.

The mothers’ reactions to being made aware of the sexual abuse perpetrated against their children were classified as positive, negative, or ambivalent. Of the 12 participants in this study, nine presented reactions that could be classified as positive, two participants had ambivalent reactions, and one mother reacted negatively. The mothers that reacted positively quickly believed their children, gave support, and took steps such as reporting the occurrence, taking the child for the sexual assault forensic exam, confronting and breaking off the relationship with the perpetrator of the sexual violence, as well as participating in medical and psychosocial monitoring. The mothers that presented ambivalent reactions had fluctuations in their attitudes and beliefs: at times they took protective actions, such as removing the child from contact with the perpetrator of the violence, and at other times, they accepted the perpetrator again; at times they believed their children’s reports, while at other times they did not. The participant that had negative reactions did not support her daughter and only believed that there was abuse when her partner admitted the situation many years later, and up to the time of the interview, minimized the effects of the violence. Below are the categories with the respective narratives regarding the maternal comprehension of the sexual abuse.

Mothers That Presented Positive Reactions and Their Comprehension of the Sexual Abuse

The participants that presented positive reactions said that sexual abuse is a form of violence that has the potential to “generate insurmountable trauma” in the child or adolescent that experiences this violence, as illustrated by P7 (36 years). This participant’s daughter was sexually abused by an uncle and her grandmother’s partner. Participant P7 was herself sexually abused in her childhood by her father, stepfather, and brother, and talked about her feelings when she remembers her own abuse:

Because we are angry with the person . . . this never goes away. Never. I’m already 36 years old. It did not pass. It does not pass. You’re going to remember it, it’s no use. You will see it on television, you will remember. It is a wound that does not . . . no matter how hard you try . . . it does not heal. (P7, 36 years)

Participant P2 considered that sexual abuse perpetrated against an adult is traumatic and that when it involves children it is even worse and that they may have difficulty understanding what happened, as these subjects are still in the process of development:

Imagine, people who are already adults, we can, I think, deal with the situation. Of course it is traumatizing, but for a child I think it is much worse. That . . . my god, they are still forming, to go through this! I think it’s very complicated, for a child’s head. (P2, 38 years)

This participant also considered that children do not lie when they talk about sexual abuse, and that, therefore, the family members should not hesitate when faced with the revelation:

But I see it like this, that there are a lot of people . . . that think that this sometimes happens in the family, they . . . stay quiet, try not to . . . you know? Sometimes they don’t believe the child, they think the child is making it up, they’re lying, right? And this is something that has to be, well . . . if the child is saying this, they have to be taken very seriously, right. (P2, 38 years)

Another aspect raised by the participants regarding child and adolescent sexual abuse was related to impunity for the perpetrator of the violence, associated with the delay in investigations and legal proceedings. In addition, the mothers complained about Brazilian legislation, which removes the freedom of the perpetrator of the violence only when they are caught in the act of committing the abuse. Participant P11’s narrative exemplifies these feelings:

The police told me that they could not arrest him, because he was not caught in the act. Then I said to them, “Okay, when he is on top of my daughter, tearing up my daughter, will that be caught in the act? Will I even have to film it for him to be caught in the act?” then they said: “No, we can’t do anything.” You know? (P11, 28 years)

According to the narratives, it was observed that these participants, when asked about the sexual abuse, demonstrated an appropriate comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse, understanding it as any sexual act perpetrated against a child or adolescent and not only when there is penetration, as illustrated by the report of P6 (27 years): “With anything it is. It’s like I said, an image, verbalizing, touching . . . all this is sexual abuse.”

Some of the participants said that before this experience in the family, they believed that sexual abuse included physical contact such as manipulation and caresses, but not penetration, which would be characteristic of rape. These mothers reported that for them the psychosocial care had enabled a process of redefinition of child and adolescent sexual abuse, resulting in a broader understanding of what counted as sexual violence:

Until then, I thought sexual abuse was one thing and rape was another. I thought that sexual abuse was touching a child, right, touching their organs, right, or taking a picture, those things that these crazy people do. But I thought there would be no penetration. [And today, what do you think it is?] The same thing. It is not separate, it is a child. It is a child. It doesn’t matter if you look at them with maliciousness, if you touch them, if you take a photo, or if you actually commit an act of rape. It’s the same thing. (P1, 37 years)

Mothers That Presented Ambivalent Reactions and Their Comprehension of the Sexual Abuse

One of the participants that had ambivalent reactions when discovering sexual violence was P5 (55 years old), whose daughter had been sexually abused by her stepfather at the age of 10. Upon finding out, P5 immediately asked her partner (with whom she had been in a relationship with for 8 years) to leave the residence. However, a few days later, she allowed him to return, partly due to the threats he was making against her and her daughter’s life, but also because she reacted ambiguously in relation to the disclosure of the sexual abuse. Participant P5 described her first reaction of disbelief upon learning of the abuse:

But we don’t want to believe it. We never want to believe it! Because the man who is sleeping with you, in the same bed, and you trust him, suddenly . . . your daughter says . . . you don’t want to believe.

The other participant who showed ambivalent reactions was P10 (42 years old), whose daughter had been sexually abused from 9 to 11 years of age by her godfather/maternal uncle, who, in turn, had already abused P10 herself (his sister), when she was the same age. Even though she was a victim of the same person, P10’s first reaction was also of disbelief when she learned of her daughter’s abuse:

Ah, me at the time . . . at the time, at the time, at the time I couldn’t believe it. Because you know that children, right, they lie . . . if this was her case . . . I didn’t believe it, understand? But when I got to her, I said, “This is a very serious accusation. If he goes to prison, or something, this condemnation of an innocent person. Think a lot about what you’re saying.” Understand? (P10, 42 years)

Subsequently, P10 took protective actions, such as expelling her brother from the home, making the complaint to the police and getting close to her daughter. It should be highlighted that, in addition to the previous experience of sexual abuse perpetrated by the same person, P10 already realized that the brother and daughter had a conflictual relationship, but still reported not suspecting anything. It is noteworthy in P10’s statement that the perpetrator of the violence treated the child badly during the day, but at night, “it was the opposite,” referring to the sexual abuse. Thus, the participant stated that her brother’s attacks were ways of showing affection and not of violence:

And he, with her, he treated her badly. He treated her badly during the day, in front of us, in front of other people, understand? Only in the evening, afterwards, it was the other way around. Understand? Then he came late at night, he did what he did with her. Understand? (P10, 42 years)

It is worth mentioning that, when asked about how they comprehended the sexual abuse, these participants had difficulties in describing the phenomenon, demonstrating silence, hesitation or using feelings instead of the description itself:

(Initial silence). Barbarity . . . you don’t have. You don’t have a description. You can imagine, we see a man . . . who hurt a . . . a . . . a baby. Is there an explanation? Do you have a word to define this? There isn’t! It does not exist! It is an evil, an . . . animalistic, right. (P5, 55 years)

I think it is a very brutal thing. I think it is very complex. I see it like that, understand? Sad, sad. Ah I do not know. (P10, 42 years)

Mother That Presented Negative Reactions and Her Comprehension of the Sexual Abuse

Participant P12 (57 years) had her reactions classified as negative for manifesting attitudes of doubt, rivalry, and lack of support even when her daughter became pregnant by her stepfather (P12 did not want her to return home from the maternity hospital with her newborn grandson). Participant P12 reported being aware that there was abuse, but minimized it because she believed that her daughter may have enjoyed the experience. The report of P12 also showed blame for the victim, even though she knew that in addition to the sexual violence, her daughter also suffered physical violence from her stepfather. She herself was also a victim of severe partner violence, having been stabbed and received several broken bones:

So, I don’t know if she, during this period, if she liked it, right. I thought so, that at some time, she liked it. Until today, she kind of came to say to me: “Ah, what happened to me, bla bla bla” . . . she made herself, she still makes herself a victim. But . . . it might not be. Because he beat her a lot, you know. (P12, 57 years)

This mother that expressed a negative reaction to the disclosure of the abuse blamed not only her daughter for having experienced the sexual abuse, but the victims of this type of violence in general. Participant P12 considered that children/adolescents provoke abuse, as she believed that they are the ones that seduce the men. This mother also made a comparison with past times when girls were innocent and “had no wickedness,” in contrast to the present, when they are “prostituting themselves”:

Now . . . I say, because where I live there, the girls don’t even have breasts. They are prostituting themselves. I’ve never seen anything like it. Seducing men. That sometimes the men don’t even want to see that, and do that. But they seduce them. [. . .] There are things I never saw in my life and today there are girls, as I told you, without shame. A girl who has no respect, 9 years old there, who don’t need the guy to call them. They call the guy. We see things like that, it’s absurd (whispering). Understand? (P12, 57 years)

When explaining what she comprehended by the term “sexual abuse,” P12 (57 years) stated,

It’s to take it by force [. . .] If a person does bad things, I want to see him dead or in jail. These are the places I want to see the person. Such a person would never enter my house. (P12, 57 years)

The contradiction can be perceived in the statement of P12 (57 years) when she reported that such a person would never enter her house—although she maintained a marriage for almost 20 years, in which her husband sexually abused her daughter (his stepdaughter).

Another contradiction that emerged in the narrative of this same mother who had negative reactions was that physical proximity is a reason to suspect child and adolescent sexual abuse, even in a context where there is no apparent reason for this distrust. This same participant, who ignored important indications of the sexual abuse that happened in her family (such as the pregnancy of the daughter, resulting from the rape committed by her husband) says that a man who picks up children should put them on his knees, and not close to his groin, even in an environment with several people present:

That I always say, to all my children, do this: child, if it is a man he puts a child on the knee. On one leg only. My son does this. Understand? Never put them like this (makes a movement close to the chest/groin). People who already pick them up like this, that calls a granddaughter and puts her on his legs like this, when I go to a house and I see someone pick up the child and put her like that on their laps, I say “Hummm” (makes expression of disgust). (P12, 57 years)

Discussion

As previously observed in other studies (Alaggia, 2002a; Bolen & Lamb, 2002; Cyr et al., 2002; Leifer et al., 1993; Sirles & Franke, 1989), the majority of mothers of this sample presented positive reactions and were supportive. Maternal support is effective in stopping the ongoing abuse, eliminating its immediate effects and decrease its likely negative long-term outcome. In particular, it is of critical importance when the sexual violence is perpetrated by a family member (Rakovec-Felser & Vidovič, 2016), like it was in 10 of the 12 studied cases of this study.

It is remarkable that half of the participants have also experienced sexual abuse when growing up, a higher prevalence than what is usually observed in the general population (Alaggia et al., 2019; Barth et al., 2013; Singh et al., 2014). Previous studies have shown that mothers who were sexually abused during childhood are more likely to have a child victim of sexual violence (Borelli et al., 2019; Wearick-Silva et al., 2014). Usually, when mothers are also victims of sexual abuse themselves, not only do they feel overwhelmed and shocked by their child’s disclosure of the violence but also feel confused about how to deal with their own emotions. These sentiments can be so intense that it may impact their emotional availability in responding to their child’s needs and providing support (McCarthy et al., 2019).

Findings regarding the impact of the mother’s history of childhood sexual in their ability to provide support are still inconsistent (Bolen, 2002; Elliott & Carnes, 2001), which also seems to be the case in this study. Of the six mothers who had a history of sexual abuse, four had a positive reaction and two had an ambivalent reaction. A possible explanation for such different types of support provided could be found analyzing mother’s different ways of bearing their possible traumatic experience. It is known that, when a mother is able to speak in greater depth about their thoughts and feelings related to their own sexual abuse exposure, the chances of having a child exposed to this violence are diminished. However, mothers who do not receive any treatment or support may have blind spots that can enhance risk for revictimization not only themselves, but also their children (Borelli et al., 2019).

The participants that presented positive reactions understood that their children suffered sexual abuse even when there was no penetration. In describing the different ways in which this violence occurs, these mothers demonstrated an appropriate comprehension of the phenomenon. This result is in line with those obtained by DeAntoni et al. (2011) in their study conducted with mothers of victims of sexual violence. These authors highlighted that mothers who believed that sexual abuse only occurred when there was penetration did not have positive reactions, as they tended to minimize, trivialize, or naturalize the violence experienced by their children.

In this way, one can envision a possible relationship between maternal reactions and an adequate comprehension of the sexual violence phenomenon. Although protective maternal reactions are associated with a broad understanding of what sexual violence is, ambivalent or negative reactions seem to go together with a lack of comprehension regarding the abuse and its consequences. It should be noted that positive reactions can generate both the acceptance of the situation and a willingness to address the child victim’s needs, as well as the demand for access to the services that guarantee rights. In other words, a mother’s understanding about the broad nature of violence may have led them to manifest protective behaviors, without minimizing the effect of their child’s experience.

However, it is also possible that the mothers may have reacted positively precisely because the professionals that provided them with care made sure they clearly understood the phenomenon. This may be a tangible possibility, as all the participants in this sample were receiving a specialized follow-up by psychologists and social workers in a Child Protection Service. Regretfully, the professional literature tends to credit negative psychological qualities to guardians scoring low on support, and this way, perpetuate the reification of guardian support as a psychological construct intrinsic to nonoffending guardians, instead of recognizing its policy-driven nature (Bolen, 2002).

In this study, relationships were also found between the comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse and the negative maternal reaction. A mother who understood the sexual violence phenomenon in a contradictory way underestimated the different levels of emotional and cognitive development between adults and children/adolescents. Subsequently, this led them to believe the child was responsible for the violence suffered. It is important to note that the participant in question (P12) reported that a perpetrator of sexual violence would never enter her home, even though she had been married to one for about 20 years. Furthermore, in the midst of the controversy, she described physical proximity as a reason to be suspicious of child and adolescent sexual abuse, describing a context in which there is no apparent reason for such distrust and disregarding significant episodes she experienced personally with her daughter and partner. Although contradictory feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are commonly experienced by mothers who had sexually abused children (Bolen & Lamb, 2007), this mother’s contradictory responses and discourse stands out, especially considering that she did not ever take any protective or supportive actions toward her daughter.

It should be noted that two of the mothers who had ambivalent or negative reactions (P5 and P12, respectively) were in a relationship with the perpetrator of the violence at the time of the disclosure of the abuse, an arrangement that may have hindered them taking protective actions. Mothers are more likely to believe and support their children when the perpetrator of violence is not a current partner or when there is no dependence or intimacy with them (Cyr et al., 2002; Pintello & Zuravin, 2001; Rakovec-Felser & Vidovič, 2016). When mothers are involved with the perpetrator of the violence, they need to reconcile their maternal role and their relationship with their partner and may have to struggle with the uncertainty of who is speaking the truth and who they should believe (Pintello & Zuravin, 2001; Sirles & Franke, 1989). Even when the mother believes the child’s report, she may have difficulty providing support or protection for a variety of reasons, including fear or financial dependence on the perpetrator of the violence (Elliott & Carnes, 2001).

In addition, these mothers that had ambivalent or negative reactions (P5 and P12) were themselves subject to conjugal violence of the most diverse types, such as threats or physical aggression, a scenario that may also have influenced their reaction when they found out about the sexual abuse perpetrated against their children. It is known that the co-occurrence of woman abuse and child sexual abuse is remarkably high (Alaggia, 2010), and the mother being in an ongoing relationship with physical abuse is related to the use of avoidance strategies when dealing with the disclosure of sexual abuse (Hiebert-Murphy, 2002). These mothers may have difficulty in facing and elaborating the situation experienced, as they themselves are victims of violence (Knott & Fabre, 2014).

It is also necessary to consider that, in a reality in which relationships occur in a context of devaluation and submission, violence acquires a natural status, becoming a way of life and being accepted and signified as natural (Penso et al., 2009). Furthermore, when a mother comes from a cultural background that obeys to rigid patriarchal norms (such as is the Brazilian culture), intense value conflicts regarding family preservation, loyalty binds between the perpetrating partner and child victim, and worries around being excluded from their extended family and community are commonly experienced (Alaggia, 2002b).

It is important to consider that mothers can manifest protective attitudes even in the face of a lack of initial credibility in relation to their children’s sexual abuse (Baía et al., 2014), a phenomenon also found in this study when analyzing the narratives of the participants that presented ambivalent reactions. Credibility (believing the child) and action (providing necessary measures to protect them) are different constructs and are independent of each other (Chiaramello et al., 2018; Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2009). The fact that a mother believes her child’s report of sexual abuse does not imply the initiative to file a complaint or seek help. Likewise, a mother that does not believe the truth of her daughter’s report will not necessarily refuse or resist denouncing the aggression (Santos & Dell’Aglio, 2009).

It should be noted that disbelief and denial, a phenomena experienced at first by some of the participants in this study when they were made aware of the sexual abuse, can be considered similar to what family members feel when a child dies, as evidenced by the study by Elliott and Carnes (2001). These considerations explain the ambivalent and incredulous maternal reactions found in the participants of this study. Elliott and Carnes (2001) point out that even mothers that are protective and support their children often behave inconsistently and ambivalently (Elliott & Carnes, 2001).

In fact, ambivalence seems to be the rule when the costs of disclosure are high (Bolen & Lamb, 2004), which is particularly accurate for the situations of intrafamiliar sexual abuse. It is necessary to consider that maternal reactions are dynamic and can change over time (Chiaramello et al., 2018). The temporal dimension of maternal response is highlighted in Alaggia (2002a), where the mother’s support changed over 6 months in both directions: from supportive to less supportive and from less supportive to more supportive. Similar findings are reported by Cyr and colleagues (2014), in a study that measured different dimensions of maternal support in two different moments. The majority of mothers (three fourths) believed their child’s report without any doubt and took action to protect their child from the perpetrator. Also, more than two thirds of mothers were actively involved in finding proper interventions for their child and their family. All these proportions remained stable over time. However, while only half of the mothers provided emotional support 12 months after the disclosure, this proportion increased 75.6% 6 months later (Cyr et al., 2014).

Final Considerations

This study evidenced possible relationships between maternal reactions to the disclosure of abuse and the maternal comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse. Mothers that presented positive reactions believed the report and supported their children, showing a comprehension that sexual abuse can occur in different ways, and not only when there is penetration. Participants that presented ambivalent reactions, in turn, expressed the belief that sexual abuse could be a form of affection, in addition to having difficulty in describing the phenomenon of sexual abuse. These mothers initially did not believe the report of the abused child, but later demonstrated protective attitudes. The mother that had negative reactions to the revelation of the abuse minimized the effects of the violence, blamed the victims for the situation, and expressed a contradictory discourse.

This study provides important contributions to reflect on the phenomenon of sexual abuse of children and adolescents, in particular from the perspective of the mother: the person with the most potential to influence the prognosis of a victim. Understanding how mothers comprehend and describe this violence clarifies how the roots of their reactions are cultivated, as well as their decision-making and coping with the sexual abuse experienced by their children.

These results can be particularly useful for professionals working with families that have experienced situations of sexual violence. Beliefs and meanings attributed by mothers (and by other family members, including the victims of sexual abuse) can be analyzed and modified during the intervention process. This reframing process and its importance, which is already recognized by different therapeutic approaches, can have effects that go beyond the immediate well-being of those involved, going so far as to influence how the family members of the victim of sexual violence take action to effectively guarantee the protection of the child or adolescent.

It is necessary to consider some limitations of the study, for example that the data collection was performed in the southern region of Brazil, presenting cultural and socioeconomic specificities. These characteristics are directly related to the emergence of the configurations of the family violence, as well as the weight of the social stereotypes linked to concepts about sexual abuse. For this reason, it is necessary to consider the particularities of the study based on these attributes, and we suggest that further studies about maternal reactions and maternal comprehension can also be conducted in other contexts and countries.

Despite the modest number of mothers interviewed, especially for the categories of ambivalent and negative maternal reactions, we consider that the findings here reported are significant because the possible relationships between maternal reactions to the disclosure of abuse and the maternal comprehension of child and adolescent sexual abuse was not yet considered or reported elsewhere. As the two study aims were not initially connected, data saturation and number of participants were observed only for the aims separately. Future studies could investigate and refute or confirm the correlation between comprehension and maternal reaction using quantitative methodologies.

It is also emphasized that violence, due to its dynamics, is a research theme in which access to participants is difficult, as shown on our participant’s recruitment: In a universe of 214 possible participants, only 12 agreed to be interviewed. The perpetration of violence is anchored in the isolation of the family system, and in rigid barriers that hold victims in place. For this reason, it is estimated that the mothers that agreed to participate in this study are probably more motivated and that, in general, took protective actions, which does not reflect the universe of mothers of sexually abused children and adolescents.

It is believed that future studies carried out with other actors involved in the phenomenon investigated could continue to provide unique results, contributing to the current field of knowledge. Such studies would favor the emergence of support for contextualized interventions, working on the theme of violence as a phenomenon managed and sustained in the relational plots of those involved.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for all the mothers who shared their stories and participated in this study.

Author Contributions

The individual contributions of four authors to this article were as follows: F.S. conceived of the study, collected the data, and drafted the article; C.L.O.O.M. participated in its design and coordination, and drafted the article; S.K. and M.A.C. participated in its design and helped to draft the article. Finally, all authors read and approved the final article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Francieli Sufredini

Author Biographies

Francieli Sufredini is a clinical psychologist and a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. This article was based on the research she conducted for the thesis component of her master’s degree (Psychology, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil). Her research focuses on children and adolescents sexual abuse, mothers’ reactions to the disclosure, and maternal mental health concerns in the perinatal period.

Carmen Leontina Ojeda Ocampo Moré, PhD, is a registered psychologist and a full professor in the Department of Psychology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Her research focuses on psychological development, psychosocial processes, health professionals and families in the hospital context, and stressful events.

Scheila Krenkel, PhD, is a registered psychologist and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Her research focuses on clinical, health, and developmental psychology; families; and violence against women.

Maria Aparecida Crepaldi, PhD, is a registered psychologist and a full professor in the Department of Psychology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Her research focuses on health, family, and psychological development; social relationships in outpatient and hospital care; and the father’s role in the child’s development.

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