Received: 31 July 2020 - Revised: 30 September 2020 - Accepted: 23 October 2020 DOI: 10.1002/bsl.2492 SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE Why do child sexual abuse victims not tell anyone about their abuse? An exploration of factors that prevent and promote disclosure Georgia M. Winters 1 | Niki Colombino 2 | Sarah Schaaf 1 | Anniken L. W. Laake 3 | Elizabeth L. Jeglic 2 | Cynthia Calkins 2 1 School of Psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey, USA 2 Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York, USA 3 Sørlandet Hospital, Kristiansand, Norway Correspondence Georgia M. Winters, School of Psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University; 1000 River Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666, USA. Email: georgiawinters82@gmail.com Abstract Disclosure rates of child sexual abuse (CSA) to both social supports and law enforcement are concerningly low, although more research is needed to understand factors that impact disclosure. Thus, the present study examined rates of informal (i.e., to a social support) and formal (i.e., to law enforcement) disclosure of CSA, as well as victims' self‐ reported experiences with telling others about their own abuse and their perceptions of the overall advantages and disadvantages of disclosure. In all, 76 undergraduate women (who collectively experienced 105 instances of abuse) participated in a semi‐structured interview regarding their history of CSA. Results revealed that approximately 50% of cases involved the victim informally disclosing, and only 10% of cases being formally disclosed to authorities. The quantitative and qualitative data shed light on a number of factors that lead victims to not disclose, as well as the identification of factors that may promote a victim to share their abuse with others. The implications for improved prevention and responses to CSA disclosure are discussed. KEYWORDS child sexual abuse, disclosure, reporting, sexual abuse prevention Behav Sci Law. 2020;1–26. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bsl © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. - 1