Non-abusing mothers’ agency after disclosure of the child’s extra-familial sexual abuse

dc.contributor.authorSerin, H.
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-15T19:25:03Z
dc.date.available2020-10-15T19:25:03Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractThis qualitative study analysed the agency of eight non-abusing mothers in the Turkish Cypriot Community after disclosure that their child had been sexually abused by someone outside the family. The aim was to discover how, after disclosure, such mothers act to protect their children in the contexts of their family and community. The data were gathered via semi-structured in-depth interviews and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). In the nuclear family context, maternal agency emerged in the form of motherhood skills, including emotionally supporting the abused child, double-checking the child’s safety or limiting the child’s mobility, and controlling the actions of adult sons. In the community context, maternal agency was manifested in efforts to prevent men in the extended family or the abuser’s family from concealing the abuse and to obtain informal support from others such as birth or extended family members. The women were usually successful in hiding their reactions or making decisions in their children’s best interest despite frequently having to cope with the reality of living in a restrictive and patriarchal culture. The results emphasise the need for working with the general public and professionals to change the culture of silence and to improve the social support network for sexually abused children and non-abusing family members, especially mothers.en_US
dc.identifier.citationSerin, H. (2020). Non-abusing mothers’ agency after disclosure of the child’s extra-familial sexual abuse. European Journal of Women's Studies, 1350506820944432.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/71657
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/4879
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherEuropean Journal of Women's Studiesen_US
dc.subjectdisclosureen_US
dc.subjectchild sexual abuseen_US
dc.subjectInternational Resourcesen_US
dc.subjectTurkeyen_US
dc.subjectcaregiveren_US
dc.subjectqualitative researchen_US
dc.subjectsocial supporten_US
dc.subjectpatriarchyen_US
dc.titleNon-abusing mothers’ agency after disclosure of the child’s extra-familial sexual abuseen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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