”It’s My Responsibility, But…” A Qualitative Study of Perpetrators’ Understanding of Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT

The present study looked at child sexual abuse (CSA) from the perpetrator’s perspective, focusing on precursors to, sustaining mechanisms, and inhibitors of CSA. Individuals serving sentences for sexual abuse of children under the age of 16 were interviewed (N = 8). A qualitative design using interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed. Negative childhood events such as poly-victimization, poor social skills, loneliness, and insecure sexual identity were reported as predisposing elements. Abuse was sustained due to a strong conviction of not being responsible for doing anything wrong. Respondents conveyed few salient inhibitors for the abuse, though not wanting to physically harm the child was often cited as important. Implications for the prevention of CSA in risk groups suggest the need to increase the understanding of children from a child's perspective, changing conceptions leading to disavowal of adult responsibility toward children, strengthening social competency, integration into a social context, and increasing knowledge about the harmful consequences of CSA.

KEYWORDS:

• Offender/perpetrator
• sexual abuse
• children
• prevention
• child sexual abuse
• perpetrator’s perspective
• qualitative interview

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the staff at the penal institution, where this study took place, who provided invaluable support and assistance during the entire research process.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants who were included in the study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anita Stokka Kåven

Anita Stokka Kåven, clinical psychologist, Institute for Psychology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.

Jana Kristin Maack

Jana Kristin Maack, clinical psychologist, Institute for Psychology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø.

Anna Margrete Flåm

Anna Margrete Flåm, specialist in clinical psychology, Institute for Psychology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Mary Nivison

Mary Nivison, specialist in clinical psychology and associate professor, Institute for Psychology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Bergen, Norway. She is presently a researcher at Viken Center, Bardu, Norway.