Because most children are taught from an early age that the family provides love, trust and security, incest is devastating. Sexual activity between a child and anyone outside of the family constitutes sexual abuse. As a result of the sexual abuse, children often become suspicious and believe that all strangers want to coerce them into sexual activities. Both sexual abuse and incest are traumatic. Incest and sexual abuse can be overt or covert.
Overt abuse involves physical contact for sexual purposes.
This includes invasive touching of sexual body parts, oral and anal sexual activity, and sexual intercourse. Covert incest and sexual abuse involves seemingly accidental touching, comments that have sexual connotations, and exposure to sexual activity or pornography. Signs of covert abuse include rigid rules concerning the types of clothing that may be worn by family members and discouraging association with people outside the family. Incest and sexual abuse are more prevalent among chemically dependent adolescents. The incidence of incest and sexual abuse among adolescents who are in chemical-dependency treatment is estimated to be two to three times higher than for adolescents in general.