Emerging evidence suggests that social identities are an important determinant of adaptation following traumatic life experiences. In this paper, we analyse accounts of people who experienced child sexual abuse. Using publicly available talk of people who waived their right to anonymity following successful conviction of perpetrators, we conducted a thematic analysis focusing on trauma‐related changes in their social identities. Analysis of these accounts highlighted two themes. The first highlights the acquisition in these accounts of unwanted and damaging identity labels. The second presents child sexual abuse as a key destructive force in terms of important identity work during childhood. Discussion of this analysis centres on the pathological consequences of social identity change. Both the loss of valued identities and the acquisition of aberrant and isolating identities are experienced and constructed as devastating by those affected by child sexual abuse. This has important implications, not only for those impacted by child sexual abuse but for how abuse is discussed in society, and how it is approached by policy makers, educators and individuals working with survivors and their families.

中文翻译：

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儿童性虐待和社会身份丧失：幸存者公共账户的定性分析


新出现的证据表明，社会身份是创伤性生活经历后适应的重要决定因素。在本文中，我们分析了遭受儿童性虐待的人的叙述。利用公开的关于在成功定罪肇事者后放弃匿名权的人的讨论，我们进行了一项主题分析，重点关注他们社会身份中与创伤相关的变化。对这些账户的分析突出了两个主题。第一个突出了在这些账户中获取不受欢迎和有害的身份标签。第二个将儿童性虐待视为童年时期重要身份工作的关键破坏性力量。对这一分析的讨论集中在社会身份变化的病态后果上。那些受儿童性虐待影响的人所经历和构建的价值身份的丧失以及异常和孤立身份的获得都是毁灭性的。这不仅对那些受儿童性虐待影响的人具有重要意义，而且对社会如何讨论虐待，以及政策制定者、教育工作者和与幸存者及其家人一起工作的个人如何处理虐待具有重要意义。