Research Priorities for Responding to Sexual Victimization of Children and of Adults: A Backlash Against Believing the Victim and the Research

Sexual abuse victimization of both children and adults is too common, yet significant gaps remain in the available research to support professionals who are conducting investigations, evaluating disclosures, assessing credibility, and involved in the decision-making that happens in legal, law enforcement, mental health, and institutional settings. This article examines the current available research and what should be prioritized in future research across three overlapping areas: childhood sexual abuse (CSA), particularly in families where intimate partner violence (IPV) is also present and family-court involvement occurs; sexual assault of adults in criminal and civil legal contexts; and adult survivors of CSA, including those abused within institutional settings. Several issues present themselves across these populations that warrant further study. These include: delayed disclosure and delayed recall; the effects of trauma on memory and how memory is being understood by investigators and others; betrayal trauma and institutional betrayal; victim blaming and disbelief; and the responses of deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender (DARVO) by alleged offenders and the effects on alleged victims and other parties involved in these cases. The current research is also limited by dated literature, inconsistent terminology being used in these cases, research models that may not adequately reflect the circumstances in which traumatic experiences are disclosed and recalled, and relatively little longitudinal research examining legal and institutional responses to the complex dynamics of these cases. This article identifies priorities for future research, advocating for more ecologically valid studies, greater consistency in definitions and methodology, longitudinal investigations, closer examination of professional and judicial decision-making, and further study of the overlap between CSA and IPV. Strengthening the current research is important for improving the investigation and response to sexual victimization and reducing the risk of victim blaming, revictimization, and erroneous conclusions across family, criminal, civil, and institutional systems.