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The question I address is that, based on other research that have been conducted, we can assume that children who have been sexually abused as children will become sex offenders in their adult life. What types of intervention can be taken to stop the cycle? Many female children are approached for sexual gratification by adult males, and many male children are approached by adult male homosexuals. Contrary to public belief, sexual exploiters and abusers of children are not strangers, but in the vast majority of instances are well known to the children and are related to them through kinship or marriage. Often, the abuser is the child’s natural father or stepfather, mother or stepmother, uncle or other relatives. Since these behaviors might have been learned, I believe that these behaviors can be unlearned and possibly be replaced by new behaviors through the therapeutic interventions toward the entire family.

Little research has been done on intergenerational cycle of sexual abuse of children. The reason is that society views sex as a taboo subject. I believe that sexual abusers are almost never treated; they are often incarcerated with no treatment. Often sexual abuse is seen as a family problem, and it is rarely discovered. When it is discovered, it becomes a family secret and because of shame family, members fail to seek outsider’s help. Sexual abuse is hard to prove and easy to deny. When sexual abuse occurs in the family, focus is usually on the abuser to make sure that he or she is properly prosecuted and receives proper treatment. The problem arises when the victim receive little attention and little therapy to deal with this traumatic situation and therefore might view the abuser’s behavior as normal.

I strongly believe that therapeutic intervention directed toward the entire family would either decrease or stop the intergenerational cycle of adult survivors of sexual abuse. In hreferring to sexual abuse, I use the definition of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect which describes sexual abuse as contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person when the perpetrator is in a position of power or control over the victim.

I do believe that there are many factors such as poverty, alcoholism, stress, etc. that contribute to these abusive behaviors from a parent but I don’t think that focus on only these items would help break the cycle. The focus should not only be on the social factor but also on the parent. The focus should also be put on the victim whom is at risk of becoming a potential perpetrator. This is why I believe that therapeutic intervention toward the entire family is best way to begin to stop the intergenerational cycle of sexual abuse.

I strongly believe that the family in which the child belongs also needs therapy. So often the case of sexual abuse have been reported, the subject is most likely to become a secret because of shame, guilt or the family wants to save the child from further embarrassment. The family as a whole needs to receive therapeutic intervention to learn to deal with the incident and not feel they are to blame. Proper intervention with the family might indeed help the child to better cope with the situation instead of accepting the incident as a normal behavior.  

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