Abstract
The study examines the barriers to disclosure of child maltreatment among adolescent girls. Stratified random sampling was done among classes 7 to 12 of government girls’ schools of a semi-urban area of Delhi, and a total of 1060 adolescent girls participated. Almost 33% of victims of physical abuse, 50% of sexual abuse, 30% of emotional abuse, and 40% of neglect did not disclose their experiences to any support group. The most frequent confidante, in almost two-thirds of cases of all forms of abuse was a friend of the study participant. Among the study participants who did not disclose abuse, the most common reason for nondisclosure was a feeling of shame or embarrassment (40%–80% for physical abuse, 55%–80% for sexual abuse, and 55% for emotional abuse). Among the study participants who did not disclose neglect, 70% reported that they did not do so because they had no expectation of help from anyone.
Acknowledgments
Office of the Deputy Director, Directorate of Education, South-West district of Delhi and the school principals who consented to conduct of the study in schools under their jurisdiction are acknowledged.
Authors’ contributions: SD and AK conceived the idea. SD performed data collection and analysis. AK and SKP supervized the overall process. SD drafted the manuscript. All the authors gave their inputs and approved the final manuscript.
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