Ecological System Model Approach to Self-Disclosure Process in Child Sexual Abuse

The child has a potential of action initiated spontaneously and voluntarily which is also a precious tool against abuse: named self-disclosure. However, the disclosure of self is, in fact, a complex phenomenon related to a bunch of multileveled effects such as the child's developmental characteristics, family background and also the cultural and societal attitudes towards the child and children rights. The obstacles that cause child victims not to appear and recognized are even threatening the effectiveness of intervention strategies for dealing with sexual abuse. This paper aims to provide an in-depth elucidation of the aspects that influence the self-disclosure in child sexual abuse. To handle the relations of the main factors inclusively involved in child self-disclosure; the Ecological System Model of Urie Bronfenbrenner was utilized