Abstract:
Child sexual abuses have become a contemporary social issue in the present Sri Lankan
society. The effects of child sexual abuse can include physical injury to the child, depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and the propensity to further victimization-in
adulthood. With the escalated numbers of child abuses, it is necessary to understand the
socio-cultural and psychological reasons for this situation and its impacts on the society.
The Matara district has identified as one of the districts where highest number of child
abuses have been reported during the recent past. This study was conducted to explore
the research problem of what are the causes for increased number of child sexual abuses
in Matara district. In order to study the phenomena, three specific research questions
were formulated as (a) what are the actual causes for child sexual abuses? (b) what are the
prevalent types of child sexual abuses? (c) what factors contribute to the recent increase of
child sexual abuses in the study location?. The study included both a literature review and
primary data collection process. Secondary information on the prevalence of child sexual
abuses, their types; main causes and impacts of such abuses were reviewed as the first step
of the research. Primary data were collected from a sample study incorporating research
techniques such as focused group discussions, key informant discussions and interviews
in Matara, Dondra and Akuressa police divisions where the incidents of child abuses
are relatively high. Six case studies were conducted to understand the phenomena more
deeply. These case studies were carried out on the respective abused-children remained
under rehabilitation in sample locations. The causes revealed from the study for child
sexual abuses include poverty, lack of law enforcements, changes of the traditional roles
of the family, broken families, bad cultural influences, lack of awareness on the sexual
abuses, neglect and lack of care and protection from the families.