Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome: what it is, and characteristics

Over the last decades, the problem of sexual abuse of minors and its consequences has been deeply investigated.

Many of these sequels are psychological. That is the perspective that addresses child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, a construct that we will analyze in detail in the following paragraphs to find out what it consists of and what implications it has for the victims.

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What is child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome?

People who have suffered sexual abuse while they were minors, are not only victims of the fact egregious in itself, but may in turn be victimized later as a consequence of the event. suffered. This phenomenon is the one that Roland C. Summit, when in 1983 he proposed the existence of the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome.

This author developed this concept to try to establish the steps that, according to him, all or most of the children who had been repeatedly sexually abused went through

. This scheme shows a psychological process of getting used to this type of abuse. To do this, he suggested the existence of five stages or milestones that minors should go through during this process.

Later we will explore these five stages of the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Summit also talks about the relationship that the abuser generally has with the victim, since in a high percentage of cases, it is usually a close person, be it a relative, a teacher, monitor, friend of the family, etc.

This relationship has a direct effect on the child's perception of the situation, feelings of shame, helplessness and even guilt, as we will see when we describe the phases of sexual abuse accommodation syndrome childish. And it is that this process describes, always from the author's point of view, the habitual form of response of the abused child on a psychological level.

The stages of child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome according to Summit

As mentioned, the Roland Summit proposed child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome consists of five stages. Below we will describe each of them in detail to understand the scheme that this author put on the table.

1. The secret

The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome begins with the stage of secrecy. Generally, this is the typical characteristic that occurs at the beginning of all abusive behavior.. Remember that we have mentioned that normally the aggressor is an individual from an environment close to the child. Therefore, that person often emphasizes to the victim about the need not to tell anyone anything.

In this way, the child who suffers a sexual assault, which already makes him a victim, obviously, he is also a victim. (usually) from a person with whom he had a certain confidence, sometimes even being someone very close. But, in addition, they are forced to keep a secret about it, which can further increase the anguish, anxiety and discomfort of the child.

Sometimes that secret is imposed through threats, either to harm him or his family, or even by deepening the feeling of guilt and shame if others find out what they have done. All of these are ways of continuing to victimize the child, beyond the abuse he has been subjected to, and it is done through fear.

Therefore, this first level of the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome is crucial for understand the psychological implications that the perception of aggression has on the child received.

2. Impotence

The victim, knowing himself vulnerable and not being able to ask anyone for help, because they force him to keep his secret under threats, or because out of shame, believing that he has done something wrong, he is powerless, helpless. This is the second phase that includes the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome.

The child may not know why this event happened, he may be confused, or he may not have the ability to understand what happened or its implications. More so when the aggression has come from someone he trusted or even loved, someone who should protect him and has actually done the opposite.

All of this generates a deep sense of helplessness, which is further aggravated by the obligation to keep secrets about the assault. The child's perception is that he cannot escape the abuse, which he will have to face repeatedly, without being able to do anything to prevent it.

If, in addition, the aggressor represents some type of authority for the minor, this feeling of helplessness and helplessness will increase, as it will increase the confusion and the perception of the inevitability of the abuse.

3. Entrapment and accommodation

The third stage that is reached in the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, according to Summit, is that of entrapment and accommodation to the abuse itself. This idea may be strange or shocking, but the truth is that many times, the child who suffers sexual assaults on a regular basis, knowing that he cannot tell anyone and that therefore no one is going to help him, sadly ends up getting used to it.

It is a terrible question, since it happens as a consequence of the two previous points that we had seen. On the one hand, the obligation to remain silent, probably based on threats, and on the other, the lack of protection perceived by this fact. These factors crystallize in a situation of entrapment in which the minor perceives that he has no alternative but to continue suffering the abuse.

Therefore, he ends up accommodating himself to them, not in the sense of being satisfied with the situation, obviously, since it is a terrible drama that no person should experience, much less a minor. The sense of accommodation is that of getting used to it, due to a lack of options. In other words, the child ends up accepting that he has to be a victim of these abuses, because he cannot avoid it in any way.

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4. Late disclosure

The next stage experienced in the child according to the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome is that of delayed disclosure. What this fact refers to is reveal the secret about the aggressions of which he is being a victim. This act many times occurs, according to Summit, spontaneously, after some conflict, or to reach an age in which he can gather the necessary courage to tell it.

The problem is that This fact can lead to yet another form of victimization, and it is the discrediting. Many victims of abuse, who decide once and for all to tell about the terrible situation they have experienced, find that their own family does not believe them, and they think that the minor is inventing the facts, that he is confusing them with other behaviors or that they are the result of his imagination of him.

This is an extremely difficult situation to cope with, and many people turn to the defense mechanism that is denial. The point is that this attitude only deepens the child's wound. Many adults even blame the child for not having said anything before, which is, again, a way to re-victimize him.

5. Retraction

But the cycle does not end with that confession. The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome still has a final stage, which is none other than retraction. Indeed, Although the disclosure of the facts can happen by a moment of explosion or by gathering the strength for it, that does not mean that the fear has completely disappeared.

As soon as the fear of retaliation returns, the child can retract her confession, claim that it was all a lie, that she made it up, or use any excuse. This happens because the fear of the consequences, both for him and for his family, is so strong that he does not see himself able to try to escape from these abuses.

The withdrawal phase, Summit explains, is frequent, except in cases in which the child perceives that he has full support from his family and he feels that he has the necessary support to be protected against the aggressor for having revealed the secret of the terrible acts to which he was subjecting him.

Criticisms of the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome

The so-called child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome has not been accepted by everyone. It has received some criticism, to begin with, for using the word syndrome, which may lead to believe that it is a diagnosis of psychopathology, when in fact it is not.

Likewise, authors such as Mary de Young criticized this concept for having been overused in decades of the 80s and 90s to make accusations of sexual abuse of minors that later turned out not to be such.

It is important to keep in mind, therefore, that it is a theory formulated by a single author, but not It is recognized or endorsed by institutions such as the American Psychological Association (APA).

Bibliographic references:

• De Young, M. (2008). The day care ritual abuse moral panic: A sociological analysis. Sociology Compass. Wiley Online Library.
• Olafson, E., Corwin, D.L., Summit, R.C. (1993). Modern history of child sexual abuse awareness: Cycles of discovery and suppression. Child abuse & neglect. Elsevier.
• Summit, R.C. (1983). The child sexual abuse accomodation syndrome. Child abuse & neglect. Elsevier.