ABSTRACT

This issue will be explored more fully in Part II, but, for now, there are some general points to bear in mind. For instance, the immediate impact of sexual abuse upon children is often both severe and profound. It is also widely accepted that children experience abuse as frightening, painful, disturbing and psychologically damaging. Added to this, as we have seen already, there are a whole range factors to consider concerning the `context' and nature of the abuse that can also in¯uence the particular effects it can have.