Understanding how peers respond to online child maltreatment disclosures: A qualitative content analysis of family violence discussions on social media

Abstract

Background: Positive, supportive responses to child maltreatment disclosure are critical for victims to receive appropriate resources and support for healing. Young people often prefer to disclose to their peers, frequently on social media platforms.

Objective: We assessed young people's use of TalkLife, an online peer-to-peer support platform, to respond to the disclosure of child maltreatment.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 1090 comments on childhood maltreatment-related posts on TalkLife between 2013 and 2020. We used an iterative, team-based qualitative content analysis approach to understand how peers responded to maltreatment disclosure.

Findings: Peer responses tended to be supportive, including asking questions about the abuse and offering advice, emotional support, and other positive responses. Most commonly, peers advised the victim to report, focus on their strengths instead of the abuse, reach out to adults for more support, or confront the perpetrator. On occasion, however, peers began an irrelevant discussion, joked about the situation, or even directly attacked the discloser.

Conclusions: Learning about child maltreatment disclosures on social media builds the foundation for research to assist in identifying and applying interventions on online platforms. Further, these findings can inform programs that teach how to provide healthy responses to child maltreatment disclosures.

Keywords: Child abuse; Disclosure of child abuse; Internet and abuse; Peer support.