Interactions between kindergarten teachers and parents in cases of known or suspected child sexual abuse: Barriers, coping styles, and socio-cultural influences

Abstract

This study examined kindergarten teachers' perceptions of interactions with parents in known or suspected CSA cases through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 31 Jewish and Arab kindergarten teachers. Identified themes included 1) interaction perceptions characterized by intrapersonal and interpersonal complexities, 2) raising negative emotions, alongside 3) unstable and conflicting coping mechanisms: active, cautious, and avoidant. The interaction may cause the kindergarten teachers to apply defense and neutralization mechanisms, and to create negative emotional fronts - parallel to those of parents - that produce motivational barriers to reporting. Findings suggest that multiple individual and structural factors, not only sociocultural background, determine coping methods.