Child Disclosure Research Articles

Bullying perpetration among youth: The contributions of child disclosure and parent-teacher connection.

Despite research emphasizing the importance of parents in addressing children's bullying perpetration, there has been little prior research that explored how parental knowledge, particularly from child-initiated disclosure of their daily behaviors and experiences, may impact the child's overt, relational, and cyberbullying perpetration longitudinally. The current study examined the longitudinal relations between parent-reported child disclosure and the child's overt, relational, and cyberbullying perpetration, and the roles of parent-teacher connection in moderating the relations. This study utilized data gathered from 110 fourth to 5th grade children (M age = 10.35 years, SD = 8.75 months) and their parents/caregivers from 2 urban public schools in the United States. The analyses revealed that for children with high disclosure in the fall, stronger parent-teacher connection in the fall was significantly associated with less relational and cyberbullying perpetration in the spring. These findings suggest that high child-initiated disclosure itself might not be adequate in addressing children's bullying involvement and strong parent-teacher connection serves to protect children from increased covert bullying when they openly communicate with parents about their behaviors. This highlights the long-term importance of connections between teachers and parents in addressing relational and cyberbullying behaviors in underresourced urban schools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The roles of child temperament and interviewer support on children's reports of adult wrongdoing

Researchers have demonstrated that interviewer supportive behaviors positively affect children's abilities to provide information about their experiences in many circumstances, but there is some evidence that supportiveness effects may be influenced by children's temperament. The associations among interviewer support, child temperament, and children's propensity to disclose adult transgressions during free recall remain unclear. Children (N = 132) 5 to 9 years old partook in an event where an adult confederate committed six transgressions. The children were interviewed a few days later; half by a supportive interviewer and half by a neutral interviewer. Within two to three months of their participation, the children's teachers completed a questionnaire to describe each child's temperament. While interviewer support did not predict these children's disclosure of transgressions, dimensions of child temperament and individual factors did. Specifically, children's disclosure tendencies were predicted by how socially flexible and task-oriented they were. Additionally, the interviewers' questioning behavior was impacted by children's level of reactivity. Taken together with other research, the results provide further evidence that behaviors of both the interviewers and the children in the interview process are relevant to facilitating children's disclosures of sensitive information.

MOTIVATIVE ASPECTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOLERS WITH HIGH CREATIVE POTENTIAL

The article is devoted to one of the urgent problems of modern psychology - the problem of personality traits in the development of children with high creative potential. The main attention is paid to their motivational manifestations at the stage of preschool childhood. Motivation is seen as an important factor in the disclosure of children's abilities and gifts. The approach proposed by A.M. Matyushkin is used to understand and study giftedness as a prerequisite for the development of a creative personality. The article presents the results of an empirical study, which purpose was to highlight the features of the motivation of preschoolers with high creative potential. The study involved 265 preschoolers of 6-7 years old. The use of a complex of diagnostic techniques made it possible to identify a group of children (N = 52) with a high creative potential among them, and to analyze the specifics of their motivational manifestations in comparison with their peers. It was found that their desire to learn new things was more pronounced than that among their peers. Different variants of the ratio of motivational manifestations are highlighted. More than half of preschoolers, both among the gifted and among their peers, were characterized by a balance of motivational manifestations and their severity: they equally wanted to learn new things and play. At the same time, the willingness to be active and proactive in cognition was observed in less than a third of older preschool children, regardless of the level of their creative potential. The need to take into account the age characteristics of motivation and the individual variability of its manifestations at the stage of preschool childhood for the successful disclosure of children's talents and the harmonious development of a creative personality is emphasized.

Understanding expert testimony on child sexual abuse denial after New Jersey v. J.L.G.: Ground truth, disclosure suspicion bias, and disclosure substantiation bias.

The New Jersey Supreme Court held in New Jersey v. J.L.G. (2018) that experts can no longer explain to juries why sexually abused children might deny abuse. The court was influenced by expert testimony that "methodologically superior" studies find lower rates of denial. Examining the studies in detail, we argue that the expert testimony was flawed due to three problems with using child disclosure studies to estimate the likelihood that abused children are reluctant to disclose abuse: the ground truth problem, disclosure suspicion bias, and disclosure substantiation bias. Research identifying groups of children whose abuse can be proven without reliance on disclosure reveals that denial of sexual abuse is common among abused children.

HIV-positive status disclosure and associated factors among children in public health facilities in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.

HIV status disclosure in children is one of acontroversial issue in current health. Over 44,000 children in Ethiopia were living with HIV in the year 2019 with a variable level of disclosure, which ranges from 16.3% to 49%. Therefore, this study aimed to assess HIV-positive status disclosure and associated factors among HIV-infected children. A cross-sectional study was conducted in ten public health facilities providing pediatric antiretroviral therapy services. Systematic random sampling was used to select 221 caregivers of children aged 6-15 years. Face-to-face interviews were employed to generate the data. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the association between HIV-positive status disclosure to children and independent variables with statistical significance set at p-value <0.05. Out of the total, 134 (60.6%) of HIV-infected children knew about their HIV status. The mean age at disclosure was 10.71 years. Children aged older than 10 years [AOR = 22, 95% CI: 5.3-79.2], female children [AOR = 3; 95% CI = 1.2-8.7], children lost their family member by HIV [AOR = 3.5, 95% CI: 1.2-10], caregiver's perception of child did not get stigmatized [AOR = 4, 95% CI: 1.6-11], and children's responsible for anti-retroviral therapy [AOR = 16, 95% CI: 5-50] were significantly associated with HIV positive status disclosure compared to their counterpart respectively. Children who stayed on anti-retroviral for 10-15 years were [AOR = 7; 95% CI: 2-27] more likely to know their HIV positive status compared to those staying on anti-retroviral therapy for <6 years. The proportion of disclosure of HIV-positive status among HIV-infected children was low. Factors associated were the age of the child, sex, existence of parent, stigma, ART duration, and responsibility of the child for his/her drugs. HIV care providers should consider these factors while supporting disclosure.

Barriers and impact of disclosure of HIV status to children at the National Hospital, Abuja Nigeria

Background: HIV infected children survive to adolescence because of anti retroviral therapy, however, only a small proportion know their diagnosis.Disclosure is critical to long-term disease management, yet little is known about if, how, and when disclosure takes place and the barriers associated with it, and its impact on children in resourcelimited settings.&#x0D; Objective: This study set out to determine the process of and barriers to HIV disclosure in children as well as the immediate impact of this on children and their caregivers.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study was done June-July 2016 using a structured questionnaire, convenience sampling and quantitative methods at the infectious disease clinics of National Hospital Abuja. A sample of 164 caregivers of HIV positive children aged 5 to 16 years receiving antiretroviral therapy for at least one year were enrolled. Results: Prevalence of full disclosure was 24.5%, partial 22.7% with overall prevalence of 47.2%. Main barrier to disclosure was child’s age and fear of informing others. The impact of disclosure on caregivers was relief in 45.5% but emotional and difficult for others. Immediate reactions by children were sadness; tearfulness and worry in 28.6%, some showed no reaction while others even expressed relief. On a longer term, disclosure had several effects. Main predictors of disclosure on regression were the child’s age and caregiver’s opinion on disclosure.&#x0D; Conclusion: The prevalence of full disclosure is low and several barriers affect disclosure. Caregiver’s and HCWs need empowerment and support with culturally appropriate skills and platforms to deal with the barriers, process and impact of disclosure.

Supplemental Material for Bullying Perpetration Among Youth: The Contributions of Child Disclosure and Parent–Teacher Connection

Supplemental Material for Bullying Perpetration Among Youth: The Contributions of Child Disclosure and Parent–Teacher Connection

Child disclosure, parental solicitation, and adjustment problems: Parental support as a mediator.

Little is known about how perceived parental solicitation and child disclosure are negatively associated with early adolescent adjustment problems and/or if these associations are consistent across race/ethnic groups. This study used data from 209 early adolescents to examine perceived parental support as a mediator in the associations between perceived parental solicitation and child disclosure and subsequent adjustment problems, while also examining race/ethnic group differences across non-Hispanic White and Hispanic early adolescents using multi-group path analyses. Perceived parent support did not mediate the associations between child disclosure and perceived parental solicitation and subsequent adjustment problems. However, child disclosure was directly associated with subsequent conduct problems for Hispanic adolescents. Child disclosure and perceived parental solicitation may positively influence the parent-adolescent relationship by increasing parental support but may not entirely help in reducing the prevalence of adjustment problems. Child disclosure may be particularly beneficial for Hispanic early adolescents in reducing adjustment problems.

An Exploratory Study on Children's Disclosure to Parents About Their Daily Activities

An Exploratory Study on Children's Disclosure to Parents About Their Daily Activities

Children's Disclosures of Physical Abuse in a Population-Based Sample.

Few studies have explored the disclosure of child physical abuse although child sexual abuse disclosure has been widely studied and debated for years. The present study explores the characteristics of child physical abuse disclosures and compares them to previously published findings on child sexual abuse disclosure from the same data. The data consist of a representative sample of 11,364 sixth and ninth graders. Participants responded to a wide variety of questions concerning experiences of violence, including child physical abuse and child sexual abuse, in the Finnish Child Victim Survey conducted in 2013. Within this sample, the prevalence of child physical abuse was 4.1%. Children reporting abuse experiences also responded to questions regarding disclosure, reactions encountered during disclosure, and potential reasons for nondisclosure. Findings show that most of the children who disclosed physical violence had disclosed to their mother. The overall disclosure rate of child physical abuse was 74%. However, only 42% had disclosed to adults, and even fewer had reported their experiences to authorities (12%). The most common reason for nondisclosure was that the youth did not consider the experience sufficiently serious to report (53%). These findings were largely in line with the child sexual abuse disclosure rates in our previous study. Analyses of variables associated with disclosing to an adult indicate that the strongest factors predicting disclosure to an adult are younger age, female gender, no previous experiences of child physical abuse, and parents knowing who their child spends her or his spare time with. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

Disclosure, reporting and help seeking among child survivors of violence: a cross-country analysis

BackgroundViolence against children is a pervasive public health issue, with limited data available across multiple contexts. This study explores the rarely studied prevalence and dynamics around disclosure, reporting and help-seeking behaviours of children who ever experienced physical and/or sexual violence.MethodsUsing nationally-representative Violence Against Children Surveys in six countries: Cambodia, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania, we present descriptive statistics for prevalence of four outcomes among children aged 13–17 years: informal disclosure, knowledge of where to seek formal help, formal disclosure/help seeking and receipt of formal help. We ran country-specific multivariate logistic regressions predicting outcomes on factors at the individual, household and community levels.ResultsThe prevalence of help-seeking behaviours ranged from 23 to 54% for informal disclosure, 16 to 28% for knowledge of where to seek formal help, under 1 to 25% for formal disclosure or help seeking, and 1 to 11% for receipt of formal help. Factors consistently correlated with promoting help-seeking behaviours included household number of adult females and absence of biological father, while those correlated with reduced help-seeking behaviours included being male and living in a female-headed household. Primary reasons for not seeking help varied by country, including self-blame, apathy and not needing or wanting services.ConclusionsAcross countries examined, help-seeking and receipt of formal services is low for children experiencing physical and/or sexual violence, with few consistent factors identified which facilitated help-seeking. Further understanding of help seeking, alongside improved data quality and availability will aid prevention responses, including the ability to assist child survivors in a timely manner.

Latina Mothers’ Awareness of Their Children’s Exposure to Community Violence

This study examines (a) the degree of agreement between mother-reported child community violence exposure and children’s self-reports and whether agreement changes over time; (b) whether child gender is associated with mother-child agreement; and (c) whether greater mother-child agreement is concurrently and longitudinally associated with children’s psychological well-being. We conducted secondary data analyses using longitudinal data with a socioeconomically diverse sample of 287 Latino adolescents ( MageW2= 11.2, 47% girls) and their mothers ( MageW1= 35.3) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Mother-child agreement about nonexposure to violence was high. However, for violence-exposed children, mothers overestimated exposure in early adolescence and underestimated it in middle adolescence. Mothers had higher violence agreement scores with daughters than with sons. Greater mother-child agreement about witnessing community violence in early adolescence was associated with lower externalizing problems in early and middle adolescence. Agreement about children’s victimization was only concurrently associated with lower externalizing and internalizing behaviors in early adolescence. Developmental changes in adolescent disclosure and parental knowledge of children’s community violence may provide an important point of intervention for addressing the psychological sequelae of violence exposure in early adolescence.

The Effects of Different Sources of Stuttering Disclosure on the Perceptions of a Child Who Stutters

Purpose This study measured between-group differences in perceived speech skills and personality characteristics of a 12-year-old boy who stutters as a function of a factual stuttering disclosure statement, delivered by the boy who stutters, his "mother," or his "teacher." Method Two hundred seventeen college-aged adults were randomly assigned to one of four groups, including a control group (no stuttering disclosure) and three experimental groups (child disclosure, mother disclosure, and teacher disclosure). Participants in the control condition viewed a brief video of a 12-year-old boy who stutters. For the experimental conditions, participants viewed a brief factual stuttering disclosure video (delivered by the child, mother, or teacher), followed by the same minute-long video of a boy who stutters used in the control condition. Following the videos, participants completed surveys relative to their perception of the boy's speech skills and personality characteristics. Results Results support previous research citing benefits of stuttering disclosure. Significant between-group differences in both perceived speech skills and personality characteristics were observed when stuttering was disclosed by not only the child who stutters but also his teacher. When stuttering was disclosed by the mother, limited positive attitudinal differences were observed in speech skills; as a matter of fact, a number of personality characteristics were perceived more negatively as a function of stuttering disclosure by the mother. Conclusions While results were generally most positive when the boy disclosed his own stuttering, data from this study support the efficacy of verbal stuttering disclosure provided by a teacher as a means of improving perceptions associated with stuttering. Accordingly, data support the notion that children who stutter will experience an improved quality of life when taught effective self-disclosure strategies by both parents and professionals, and that professionals (but not necessarily parents) can effectively disclose their clients' stuttering during this mentorship and self-advocacy process.

HIV Disclosure in Children in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria–Child’s Perspective

Background: Disclosure of HIV status to children is essential for disease management. Studies on disclosure in children have largely described it from the health provider’s perspective or caregiver’s perspective. Caregivers’ and children’s reports about children’s feelings and distress can however differ. Understanding the disclosure process from the perspective of HIV-positive children will therefore better portray the impact it had on them.&#x0D; Aim: The aim of the study was to explore from the child’s perspective the process of disclosure, the impact it had on them, how they have coped and suggestions on how they think it could be done better.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study of HIV-infected children and adolescents aged 8–18 years who are aware of their status attending paediatric HIV clinic at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt, Nigeria from April 2015 to March 2016. Data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire administered by a Paediatric health care provider. Information sought included: Biodata (age, gender), educational levels of the child, family characteristics (primary caregiver, orphan status), age at disclosure, process of disclosure, the impact of the disclosure, how they have coped, what they did not like about the way they were told and suggested better ways of telling the children.&#x0D; Results: Seventy-eight HIV-positive children and adolescents were interviewed. Their ages ranged from 8 – 18 yrs with a mean age of 14.74±2.23 years. Forty (51.3%) were males, 50 (64.1%) were in secondary schools, 43 (55.1%) were orphans and the mode of transmission was vertical in 70 (89.7%). In majority 33 (42.3%), the biologic mother was the primary caregiver. Majority of the children 34 (43.6%) had their status disclosed to them between 13 and 14 years. The mother alone did the disclosure in 30 (38.5%). Thirty-six (46.2%) were already aware of their status before disclosure. Disclosure was a one-off event without discussions in 48 (61.5%). The commonest immediate reactions was depression 48 (61.5%). The majority 48(61.5%) became more prayerful as a coping strategy. All 78 (100%) agreed that disclosure has positively impacted on their taking their ARV drugs and clinic attendance.&#x0D; Concerning suggestions from the children, 36 (46.2%) said the most appropriate age for disclosure should be 12-13 years, 54 (69.2%) suggest that both parents should do the disclosure while 60 (76.9%) said that the children should be told how they got infected. Their major concern was having to take drugs for life 60 (76.9%).&#x0D; Conclusion: Disclosure process is suboptimal. Understanding the disclosure process from the perspective of HIV-infected children, therefore, is critical to developing interventions to improve disclosure. Most of the parent’s fears of negative impact of status disclosure may be exaggerated. There is need for health care providers to develop a plan with the caregivers of HIV-infected children on the optimal disclosure process and how to anticipate and resolve questions the children may have following disclosure.

Can rapport building strategies, age, and question type influence preschoolers' disclosures of adult wrongdoing?

In the present experiment, we examined preschoolers' disclosures of a secret as a function of rapport building strategies used in Scandinavian field settings (verbal rapport building vs. prop rapport building), age in months (33-75months) and question type (open-ended free recall invitation vs. suggestive questions). Fifty-three preschoolers (M=60.5months old, SD=11.4) witnessed a researcher break a toy and were asked to keep the toy breakage a secret. The children were thereafter interviewed about the incident. Overall, 18.9% of the children disclosed the secret after an open-ended free recall invitation. The disclosure rate rose to 83% after the final phase of the interviews when questions containing suggestive details were asked of the children. Notably, we did not observe any significant effects as a function of manipulating rapport building strategy. A linear regression model showed that child age (in months) significantly predicted the amount of reported details, with younger preschoolers reporting fewer details compared to older preschoolers. Age also predicted the amount of correct details, but not the amount of incorrect details. No age differences were found with regard to children's disclosure tendencies or proportion of central details about the secret. Methodological limitations and practical implications will be addressed.

Expressive writing in school children: Effects on well-being and working memory

This study examines the benefits of an expressive writing intervention in 5th graders on well-being – anxiety and depression symptoms – and on working memory capacity. A classical paradigm of expressive writing was used in school children during their classroom time: half of the participants had to write about stressful and negative events of their own lives, whereas the other half had to write about a normal school day. Children were asked to write four times in two weeks, resulting in four days of writing. Each group completed questionnaires yielding measures of depression, anxiety, and working memory 3 times: before the intervention, just after the writing sessions and two months after following the intervention. The narratives were analyzed using Emotaix-Tropes software. The results revealed that all the children showed a decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms. By contrast, only children in the expressive writing group showed working memory improvement. The potential benefits of emotional disclosure in school children are discussed. While there are several possible explanations for these findings, the results of this study indicate, first, that expressive writing seems to be both feasible and potentially valuable for school children, and second, that some cognitive changes occur in terms of cognitive functioning.

HIV Disclosure in Children in This Millenium – Should It still be an Issue?

Background: As more children with HIV survive into adolescence and adulthood, one of the most difficult issues that families with HIV-infected children face is disclosure of their children’s status to them.&#x0D; Objective: To explore factors associated with disclosure or none disclosure and whether disclosure is beneficial or not.&#x0D; Methods: The mothers of HIV positive children who brought their children aged 5-18 years to the Paediatric Infectious Disease Clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital from January to December 2015 were interviewed using a structured investigator administered questionnaire.&#x0D; Results: Of the 100 caregivers interviewed, 26.0% have disclosed the HIV status to the children. The mean age at disclosure was 14.42 ± 2.45 years. Care givers that have disclosed were significantly older (45.58±8.32 years vs 38.18±9.2 years; p = .0002). The mean age of children whose status have been disclosed was significantly higher than those who were yet to be aware of their status (14.42±2.45years vs 10.97±3.11 years; p = 0.00001). There was no significant difference in the mode of transmission and orphan status between the two groups. Disclosure was significantly more among children who were diagnosed between 5-10 years of age (14; 53.8%) (p=0.013), have taken antiretroviral drugs for over 24 months (22; 84.6%) (p= 0.003) and had at least one HIV-infected sibling (21; 80.8%) (p=0.00001). Among 13 (50.0%) whose status have been disclosed and 59 (79.7%) whose status had not been disclosed, the caregiver had disclosed the child’s status to others (p= 0.004). The major reason for disclosing was because the child was either asking questions on why he/she is taking drugs or he/she is refusing to take drugs (15; 57.7%) respectively. Only 6 (23.1%) caregivers disclosed because they felt the child has a right to know. Most difficult question asked by the children during disclosure was how they got the HIV (22; 84.6%). Reasons given for non-disclosure included fear of disclosure to others (74; 100%), child too young to understand (70; 94.5%) and fear of impact on child’s emotional health (42; 56.7%). Majority 20 (76.9%) of the care givers felt relieved after disclosure. Twenty-four (92.3%) caregivers felt disclosure had improved child’s adherence to antiretroviral therapy and determination to survive (22; 84.6%).&#x0D; Conclusion: Disclosure is beneficial to both the child and caregiver. Healthcare providers should encourage caregivers to disclose HIV status to their children as soon as possible.

Lability in Parent- and Child-Based Sources of Parental Monitoring Is Differentially Associated with Adolescent Substance Use

Parental knowledge about adolescents' whereabouts and activities remains one of the strongest predictors of reduced adolescent substance use. A recent study found that across middle childhood and adolescence, parental knowledge is characterized by fluctuations on a year-to-year basis, termed lability, even more-so than by linear trends, and that lability too is a predictor of adolescent substance use (Lippold et al., Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016). The present study replicates Lippold et al. (Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016) by quantifying developmental change and lability in parental knowledge across adolescence and examining associations with drinking, smoking, and other drug use later in adolescence, and extends the study by examining the sources of knowledge: child disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control, separately. Using a community-based sample of 1023 youth in the Northeastern region of the USA, all three sources of knowledge were characterized by developmental change and lability. In general, higher levels and steeper developmental declines in knowledge were associated with substance use outcomes. Findings for child disclosure replicated the prior findings: increased lability of child disclosure predicted substance use. Unexpectedly, decreased lability of parental solicitation and control was associated with worse substance use outcomes. Findings suggest different mechanisms by which lability in child- and parent-driven cultivation of knowledge is associated with substance use. If replicated in studies that address causality, these mechanisms could be leveraged for prevention/intervention efforts. For example, increasing the consistency of child disclosure may help prevent substance use, but teaching parents to be more responsive to time-specific challenges with adolescents may be more effective than increasing the consistency of parents' knowledge-building parenting behaviors.

Disclosing Influencer Marketing on YouTube to Children: The Moderating Role of Para-Social Relationship.

Watching online videos is becoming an important part of children’s media diets. Children particularly like content that is specifically created for YouTube by YouTube personalities. Because these personalities have a large reach and are considered likeable and credible, they have become social media influencers. For advertisers, these influencers are an interesting channel to reach youth. Therefore, influencers often embed persuasive sponsored messages in their videos to earn money. However, there are concerns about this practice because it is not always clear when a video includes advertising. Therefore, in several countries, guidelines have been developed that state that sponsoring in influencer videos should be disclosed as such. Until now, little is known about the effects of disclosures for influencer videos on children and the boundary conditions for such effects. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a disclosure of sponsored influencer videos on children’s advertising literacy. Additionally, we examined the consequences of the disclosure for children’s responses to the brand, advertised product, and video. We also included the para-social relationship (PSR) that children experience with an influencer as a possible boundary condition for disclosure effects on persuasion. Our experiment amongst children between 8 and 12 years old showed that, when children correctly recalled the disclosure, the disclosure increased their recognition of advertising, and understanding of selling and persuasive intent. Moreover, advertising literacy evoked by the disclosure affected persuasion: The disclosure enhanced brand memory through ad recognition, but also decreased advertised product desire through understanding the selling intent of the video. Furthermore, the PSR of children with the influencer proved to be a boundary condition for disclosure effects on brand attitudes. Only for those children who experienced moderate to low PSRs with the influencer, the disclosure resulted in less positive brand attitudes through understanding selling intent. For children who experienced a strong PSR with the influencer, the understanding that the content had a selling intent did not affect their brand attitudes. These findings show that a disclosure (if noticed and remembered) can be an effective tool to achieve transparency, but also influences the persuasive outcomes of influencer marketing in online videos.

Parents' Experiences of Their Child's Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse.

A child's disclosure of sexual victimization is a difficult experience for parents and has been associated with traumatization, disbelief, denial, self-blame, and clinical difficulties. To date, most studies on parents' responses have been quantitative assessments of the psychological impact of disclosure on parents. A paucity of research has qualitatively explored mothers' experiences of their child's disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) and fathers' experiences have been even further neglected. The current study seeks to characterize parents' experiences of their child's disclosure of CSA and to uncover the process-oriented nature of parental responses. This qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach to analysis, involved interviews with 10 mothers and four fathers whose children (3-18years) had experienced sexual abuse. Three themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme-making sense of the abuse in retrospect-captured the process through which parents sought to make sense of their child's disclosure, focusing on why their child had not disclosed the abuse to them earlier, and how they had noticed something was wrong but misattributed their child's behavior to other factors. The second theme-negotiating parental identity as protector-reflected how parents' identity as a protector was challenged, their perception of their world had been forever altered, and they now experienced themselves as hypervigilant and overprotective. The final theme-navigating the services-pertained to parents' struggle in navigating child protection and police services, and feelings of being isolated and alone. These findings highlight the need for empathy and parental support following child disclosure of sexual victimization.