Forensic psychological evaluations of child sexual abuse: Process of disclosure and its chronicity in the Peruvian highlands

Abstract

ObjectiveTo analyse the relationship between the characteristics of the victim, the aggressor and sexual abuse in children and adolescents with the disclosure process; as well as with the chronicity of the event in the Division of the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Junín region-Perú. Materials and methodsAs a general method of research, the scientific method was applied, carrying out a quantitative study, with a cross-sectional design. All forensic psychological evaluations from January to December of 2017 were analysed, of which only those that fulfilled the selection criteria were selected, leaving a total of 97 cases. ResultsData from 97 psychological examinations of minors who were victims of sexual abuse were obstructed. Of the victims, 89.7% were female, 99% of the aggressors were male, 47% of the cases of sexual abuse occurred within the family home setting and 5% of victims became pregnant. The highest frequency of recurrent events was when the mother was not living at home (aPR: 1.44; 95%CI: 1.34−1.56; P < .001), living outside the city (aPR: 1, 27; 95%CI: 1.11−1.45; P = .001), late disclosure of abuse (aPR: 2.94; 95%CI: 1.79−4.84; P < .001), and among those who unintentionally revealed the event (aPR: 1.37; 95%CI: 1.06−1.78; P = .001); in contrast, extra-family offenders were less frequent among those with multiple events (aPR: .63, 95%CI: .44−.91, P = .014), adjusted for sex and age. ConclusionsThe factors associated with recurrent sexual abuse were the victim's relationship with the mother, place of birth of the victim, disclosure latency, circumstance of the disclosure and type of link between victim and aggressor.