Factors Responsible For Sexual Abuse As Expressed By Students Of Federal College Of Education, Osiele Abeokuta, Nigeria

Alcohol or Drug Use: While some young people may experiment with drugs or alcohol as a rite of passage youth who were or abused, use substances to number their feelings. The alcoholism of one 6 year old child was discovered when her pre school reported unusual behaviours to her foster family. The child was given a medical examination, through which the doctors determined that she had been sexually abused. She was referred to a therapist who used play therapist. The child would pick the play therapy rag doll up and roll its head back and forth, put one foot in front of the other, as if the doll were walking, and then make it-fall. She repeated the sequence 14 times. After watching this behaviour, the therapist wondered if the child was acting out the behaviour of someone who had been drinking. The therapist brought in a small bottle of liquor, the type you get on an airplane, and waved the open bottle under the child’s nose, asking if she had ever smelled the odour before the child grab bed the bottle and tried to drink its contents. Through further questioning, the therapist learned that the child kept a bottle of vodka she had smuggled from her home to the faster residence inside the zipper pouch of a snuffed animal. It turned out that the child’s father had give her alcohol in a bottle so that she would relax and go to sleep while he sexually molested her. The child learned that when she drank, she could go to sleep and have the experience of not being “present” while the abuse occurred.
Problem of Sexual Behaviours: Children who are sexually abused may become involved in sexual acting-out behaviours, particularly when they reach adolescence a time of increasing biological urges and exposure to sexual education. Under normal condition sexual behaviour develops gradually overtime, with youth showing curiosity and then experimenting with themselves and others. When children are sexually abused, however, they are prematurely exposed to material they do not understand and cannot make sense of. Moreover, children become conditioned to respond to certain things. In marry instances; adults who interact sexually with children may reward them before or after the event. The children are conditioned to believe that if they engage in certain behaviours they will be rewarded. This is pure learning theory. Children report acts for which they receive positive reinforcement. A typical example was a sexually abused girl whom a judge carried and placed her on his lap so that he could interview her. The moment he places her on his lap, she reached under his robe and began fondling his genitals. She clearly had been conditioned to believe that when a man sits her on his lap, he expects this type of behaviour. The judge quickly reversed his opinion and went forward with the case of sexual abuse. Some children who were sexually abused also may become sexually provocative, dressing and talking in a manner that puts them at risk of further sexual exploitation. Other merged sexual behaviour and aggression and become the victimizers of other children.
Aggression: Eventually, most abused children get angry and some begin to act aggressively, typically with smaller children. This is the victim-victimizer dynamics, abused children learn that the bigger, stronger person hurts or takes advantage of the smaller, weaker person. Youth who have been victimized are conditioned to believe that when two people interacts, one of them will be hurt this time, some children adopt the victim role; other become the victimizers. The research would indicate that boys tend to adopt the role of aggressor more often than girls. They have a harder tome tolerating the role of victim, which is in stake contrast to the cultural definition of masculinity.
    Obviously, these behaviours and reactions are learned. Young people who have survived sexual abuse can just as easily learn more positive behaviours if communities choose to provide them with appropriate intervention and support. They need support in both working through trauma and addressing the developmental stages they may have missed because of the abuse. This includes the critical step of developing an identity separate from their family or caretaker.
Management of Sexual Abuse
    Therapists have identified three stages to working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse;
-    Establish the young person’s safety, both in their home situation and with the therapist.
-    Processing traumatic material; and
-    Fostering social reconnection.