Adult Survivors' Perceptions of Parents' Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure: Helpful and Unhelpful Responses

ABSTRACT Child sexual abuse (CSA) can lead to a host of adverse outcomes, and disclosing it can be an important part of the healing process. Most research in this area focuses on children who disclose, yet survivors often delay disclosure until adulthood, typically because of worries about parental responses. To strengthen awareness of perceived helpful and unhelpful parental reactions to adult child sexual abuse disclosure, this study presents results of a grounded theory investigation of adult survivors' ( N = 15) perceptions of their parents' responses to CSA disclosure. Results centre on the survivors' views of parents' reactions, questions, behaviours, positionality and follow‐up actions in response to the disclosure. Participants also shared how the familial context shaped responses and ongoing parent–child discussions following disclosure. The resultant grounded theory highlights relational processes that hindered or strengthened the parent–child relationship. Findings provide insights for family therapists and researchers.