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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 397-2 Disclosure Patterns in Child Sexual Abuse In reviewing the literature on this subject, London and colleagues (2005) noted, ‘when children do disclose, it often takes them a long time to do so’ (p. 204). Reasons for Patterns of Delay, Partial Disclosure and Non-disclosure There are many influences on disclosure that have been identified in the research literature to help explain why it is that children delay disclosure, are reluctant to disclose, provide details of their experiences over time or do not disclose at all. Age has been identified as a significant predictor of disclosure in that younger children are less likely to disclose than older children. Children who are abused by a family member are less likely to disclose and more likely to delay disclosure than those abused by someone outside the family (Smith et al., 2000; Goodman-Brown ef al., 2003; Kogan, 2004). Children who do disclose during forensic interviews compared to children who do not disclose in such contexts (yet concerns remain that they have been abused) are more likely to have parents (particularly mothers) who are more supportive (Lawson and Chaffin, 1992), In Priebe and Svedin’s (2008) study of young people, parental bonding (positive relationship with parent who was not overprotective) was identified as the most significant predictor of disclosure for both boys and girls. However, close relationships can also act as an inhibitor to disclosure. McElvaney (2008) found that many young people in her study were reluctant to disclose due to concerns of upsetting their parents while others were concerned about the consequences for others of their disclosure. One 13-year-old girl described her concern that if she told, her uncle would go to jail and her small cousins would be left without a father: ‘I didn’t want them to grow up with no Dad and just looking at ... their other little friends having their Dad holding their hand I felt like I was taking their Dad away from them’ (p. 130) Gender has been found to influence disclosure in that boys appear to be more reluctant to disclose than girls (Goodman-Brown ef al., 2003; Hershkowitz et al., 2005; Ungar et al., 2009a). Mental health difficulties on the part of the child have also been found to be relevant, particularly when children experience dissociative symptoms or other post-traumatic stress symptomatology (Priebe and Svedin, 2008). Some studies have found that the severity of abuse (e.g. penetrative abuse) predicts earlier disclosure while other studies have found no relationship between different types of abuse and disclosure timing. Similarly, the relationship between the duration of abuse — one-off incidents of abuse compared with abuse that takes place over a significant period of time — and timely disclosure has been investigated with mixed findings. Fear of the consequences of disclosure has been identified as a predictor of delayed disclosure and this in turn is associated with the age of the child (Goodman-Brown ef a/., 2003). Older children are more cognitively competent in terms of being able to reflect on and anticipate possible reactions to their disclosure. This can act then as an inhibitor to disclosure, although as noted above, most studies have found that older children are more likely to disclose than younger children. Fears of not being believed have been described by young people as inhibiting their disclosure and these fears are often Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Filed 10/29/21 Page 30 of 45 163 “When children do disclose, it often takes them a long time to do so” ‘Younger children are less likely to disclose than older children’ ‘Many young people in her study were reluctant to disclose due to concerns of upsetting their parents’ ‘Fear of the consequences of disclosure has been identified as a predictor of delayed disclosure’ Child Abuse Rev. Vol. 24: 159 169 (2015) DOI: 10.1002/car DOJ-OGR-00005940