From secret to repair possibility: A case study about family relationships in sexual abuse

Abstract

This study investigated how an adolescent victim of intrafamilial sexual abuse realizes his/her family in terms of cohesion, hierarchy, affectivity, conflict and relations of identification. This is a case study, which involved a 13-year-old girl who had suffered sexual abuse perpetrated by her father. A semi-structured interview was conducted and the implementation of the instruments Familiograma - FG, Family System Test-FAST and Family Identification Test-FIT was done with the girl. The results showed the presence of former alcohol and violence by the abuser, ambivalence of the author of the report and incidence of psychological and physical violence. In addition, the girl reported having little affective and very conflicting relations with the abuser and more meaningful relationships with the stepmother and some siblings. The stepmother is also the stronger identification model for girl than the father. It is concluded that, from the adolescents’ perception, the parental couple presented conflicting and little affective relationships and the family was characterized by unbalanced and unstable relationships. Studies about these families are scarce in scientific environment and are extremely necessary, in order to expand the knowledge on the subject, and in terms of providing subsidies for interventions targeted at this population.

Key words: intrafamilial sexual abuse, family relationships, domestic violence.