Sibling sexual abuse: A commentary based on seven studies, seven insights.

Sibling sexual abuse (SSA) is a complex and underexplored issue with profound impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Current research, although developing, is insufficient and fails to capture the many layers and core aspects of SSA. This commentary highlights insights from seven qualitative studies conducted by the author between 2013 and 2020, based on interviews and focus groups with siblings, parents, and professionals.

"Today, I Say It's Mine!": Professional Identity Construction among Jewish and Arab School Counselors Coping with CSA Disclosure in Israel.

School counselors play a crucial role in preventing, disclosing, and intervening in child sexual abuse cases (CSA) and in maintaining safe and protected school environments. However, research on their experiences coping with CSA remains limited. The purpose of the present study was to describe and analyze the coping experiences of Israeli Jewish and Arab school counselors with CSA disclosure, particularly the consequences for their processes of professional identity construction (the ongoing process through which they develop and refine their sense of self in their profession).

"Pay Attention! Pay Attention! Pay Attention!!!": The Pivotal Role of Educators and the Educational System as Experienced by Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.

Educational institutions and educators are significant in children's lives, and they have a crucial role in implementing policies, practices, and sexual education to enhance children's safety. Such policies and practices should be based on the voices of CSA survivors. This study explored child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors' viewpoints on their past experiences with educators and the educational system.

'A kindergarten teacher must have 100 eyes and 100 ears!': Kindergarten teachers' experiences coping with child sexual abuse and problematic sexual behavior.

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) and problematic sexual behavior (PSB) are worldwide phenomena that occur across all ages. Kindergarten teachers' proactive involvement can be crucial to the prevention, disclosure and intervention of CSA and PSB. However, research on their experiences of contending with CSA and PSB remains limited.

"We Need to Raise Awareness and Never Give Up": Israeli Druze and Muslim Arab Kindergarten Teachers' Proactivity When Facing the Sexual Abuse of Their Students.

Kindergarten teachers are expected to lead the intervention process in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) in their kindergarten. This study examines the proactive role of Druze and Muslim Arab kindergarten teachers in addressing and coping with the CSA of their kindergarten students in Israel. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to investigate the semi-structured interviews conducted with eight Druze Arab and six Muslim Arab kindergarten teachers.

"We Try to Fix Things Quietly, and We Do Not Take Revenge": Christian Arab Teachers' Experiences Coping with Child Sexual Abuse Among Their Pupils in Israel.

Teachers are at the frontlines of the fight to identify and cope with child sexual abuse (CSA) among their pupils. Their methods of coping with CSA cases, both personally and professionally, are strongly influenced by their socio-cultural contexts and religious beliefs. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the experiences of Christian Arab teachers in Israel coping with the CSA of their pupils.

"I have a special prayer 'O Lord, open my lips'": Experiences of ultra-Orthodox educators after their students' disclosures of sexual abuse.

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a large-scale, worldwide phenomenon. However, research on educators' experiences with CSA in specific social, cultural or religious contexts is limited.

Objective: The current study is part of a larger qualitative research project examining Israeli educators' coping with CSA of their students in diverse cultural contexts.

"One Day It Will Be Over, and You Will See Other Landscapes. . . You Are Not Alone": Adult Survivors' Messages to Children Undergoing Child Sexual Abuse.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has received considerable attention from scholars, contributing to policy, intervention, and prevention efforts worldwide. However, survivors' involvement in this research is limited. This study was designed to delve into the messages of adult CSA survivors to abused children.

"We were there all alone": Sexual abuse within the peer group in boarding schools in Israel - Retrospective perceptions of adult survivors.

Background: Despite the extensive research on child sexual abuse and the alarming extent of the phenomenon among peers, certain perspectives are still missing.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore the subjective experience of adult survivors of peer sexual abuse while in boarding school, which has rarely been explored.

Participants And Setting: The present study included 15 adults who were sexually abused by their peers while attending boarding school.

Not a happy story. A love story: Professional perceptions of love in families with child sexual abuse in two US mid-Atlantic Child Advocacy Centers.

Background: Although research on child sexual abuse (CSA) has greatly evolved, studies revealing survivors' conflicting feelings towards their perpetrators and family members are scarce. Professionals' perceptions of love in intrafamilial CSA are often overlooked.

Objective: The current study examined the perceptions of professionals working on CSA multidisciplinary teams (MDT).

"The most shocking thing was that I didn't respond to the abuse": The peritraumatic responses and transitions as conveyed by survivors of continuous child sexual abuse.

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a worldwide phenomenon with ongoing and far-reaching consequences for millions of children worldwide. It is a consensus among researchers that continuous CSA represents a unique challenge.

Objective: The current study aimed to explore the peritraumatic responses of survivors of continuous CSA as described in their written narratives of abuse.

"I don't fit into any category": Adult perspectives on the dynamics of past sexual acts between siblings in Jewish Orthodox society.

Background: 'Harmful sexual sibling behavior' is a term used in this study to refer to childhood sexual behaviors, including abuse (SSA), that are inconsistent with the category of age-appropriate curiosity. Although SSA may be the most prevalent and longest-lasting form of intrafamilial sexual abuse, it is the least reported, studied, and treated.

Objective: This study aims to deepen our understanding of the sexual characteristics and dynamics of such behavior, as perceived by those involved.

School principals coping with child sexual abuse in their schools.

Background: Schools serve a central role in prevention, disclosure and intervention in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA). As school principals often face CSA cases in their daily work, they may hold the key to making social change on this front. However, research on principals' experiences of contending with CSA remains limited.

"If you don't send me five other pictures I am going to post the photo online": A qualitative analysis of experiences of survivors of sextortion.

In this study, we explored survivors' experience with sextortion (threats to expose sexual images to coerce victims to provide additional pictures, sex, or other favors). We conducted in-depth telephone interviews with 48 adults aged 18 to 25 who had been targets of sextortion. Nearly half of participants were minors at the time of the sextortion incident.

Lover, Mentor, or Exploiter: Retrospective Perspectives of the Older Person Following Sexual Relationships with Adults During Adolescence.

Sexual relationships between an adolescent and an older person are considered controversial and in many countries are conceptualized under the legal definition of statutory relationship/rape. Despite the consensus regarding their potential negative implications, little is known about how adolescents perceive and construct them. To address this lacuna, the current exploratory study examined how individuals who have experienced sexual relationships with an adult while growing up perceived the older person and the meaning they ascribed to the age gap (M age gap, 7.

What Can We Learn About the Others Present During Incidents of Child Abuse?: Key Lessons and Future Directions Based on a Scoping Review.

Child abuse (CA) is a global problem that has received attention from policymakers, researchers, and practitioners. The majority of studies have focused on the phenomenon's epidemiology and consequences, alongside groundbreaking writing on victims and perpetrators. The concept of others who are present during the abuse is understudied and underdeveloped, despite its vital importance in better understanding children's experiences as well as their disclosure.

Child Sexual Abuse by Religious Authority Figures in Germany and Israel: The Experiences and Perceptions of Adult Survivors.

The current study is based on an in-depth thematic analysis of 20 interviews with German and Israeli adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) by religious authority figures (RAF). This paper aims to explore survivors' experiences within the Jewish ultra-Orthodox and Christian communities, as well as to draw comparisons between the abusive structures and disclosure in these two contexts. The results point to the complexity of CSA by RAF, which is embedded in the survivors' perceptions of themselves as emotionally and cognitively captured by the perpetrators who are a symbol of a parent or God and faith.

Disclosing the abuse: The effect of ethnoreligious identity on CSA disclosure in forensic interviews.

Multiple studies have examined sexually abused children and their interactions with the legal system, as manifested in children's disclosures of sexual abuse during forensic interviews. Nevertheless, few have done so while referencing contextual variables, such as ethnoreligious identity. The current study was designed to examine how ethnoreligious identity affects children's disclosure in forensic interviews beyond the contribution of child characteristics and abuse characteristics.

"Maybe I imagined it, maybe it really was all just childish play": Complexity and ambiguity in survivors' perceptions of harmful preadolescent sexual behavior.

Background: Harmful preadolescent sexual behavior (HPSB) is an understudied phenomenon in the field of child sexual abuse (CSA).

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to analyze and describe the experiences and perceptions of adult survivors of HPSB.

Participants And Setting: 16 survivors of HPSB were recruited as part of a purposeful sample.

Comparison of children's advocacy center responses to harmful sexual behavior among siblings: An international perspective.

Background: Harmful sexual behavior (HSB) is sexual behavior exhibited by children and adolescents that is developmentally inappropriate and/or harmful or abusive towards themselves or others. Victims of children with HSB are commonly siblings. Multiple professionals may be involved in cases of youth HSB involving siblings, which places Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) in a key position to directly address intrafamilial HSB.

"It burns her more than it burns for me": The sibling subsystem in the context of child physical abuse as portrayed by children during forensic interviews.

Background: The sibling subsystem is a central and potentially protective factor for children. Nevertheless, in the context of child abuse, it remains surprisingly understudied.

Objective: The current study was designed to examine how children referred to a forensic interview following suspected physical abuse experienced and perceived the sibling subsystem.

"A Little Bit of Light Dispels a Lot of Darkness": Online Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse by Authority Figures in the Ultraorthodox Jewish Community in Israel.

Social media sites such as Facebook have become popular platforms for promoting public awareness of sexual abuse by encouraging user engagement around this issue. There is, therefore, currently emerging research on the functions and implications of social media as a platform for sexual abuse disclosure. However, as yet, no study has examined this phenomenon specifically through a religious-cultural lens.

Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer.

This study examined Israeli public perceptions of institutional child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Malka Leifer case. Leifer is a Jewish ultra-Orthodox former Melbourne school principal who is wanted in Australia on CSA charges, after fleeing to Israel. Based on a qualitative analysis of 2,451 reader comments retrieved from four Israeli news websites and six public Facebook pages, the findings indicated diverse attitudes toward the alleged perpetrator, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, state authorities, and victims.

Trapped in a Maze: Arab Teachers in Israel Facing Child Sexual Abuse Among Their Pupils.

Cultural contexts are formative of and fundamental to how individuals understand, conceptualize, and act within a context of violence. Conceptually and methodologically, however, research from a culturally informed perspective on the experiences of teachers contending with the violence of child sexual abuse (CSA) in particular is broadly limited. As educators frequently confront cases of CSA in their everyday work, their ability to promote detection, disclosure intervention, and especially prevention gives them the potential to be agents of social change; however, while their responsibilities are critical, they are simultaneously members of their communities and cultures, and their interactions are bound by these dynamics.

How does COVID-19 impact intrafamilial child sexual abuse? Comparison analysis of reports by practitioners in Israel and the US.

Background: There is consensus in child sexual abuse (CSA) literature that intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA) has a tremendous impact on children and families while simultaneously creating challenges for practitioners. COVID-19 impacted countries worldwide and generated a global crisis resulting in impacts on daily life, however, it's effect on IFCSA is unknown.

Objective: This study aimed to compare professional perspectives and experiences working with IFCSA with respect to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic within the United States and Israel.