Child sexual abuse is a prevalent problem in South Africa – one in every three children is
sexually abused before the age of 18. Sexually abused children have serious psychological,
physical and social problems which cause further difficulties into adulthood. Most abusers
are known to their victims and thus, victims do not always disclose the abuse. Therefore, the
law compels the reporting of child sexual abuse suspicions by third parties. However, past
research shows that mandated reporters do not always report child sexual abuse suspicions.
This study aimed to investigate the factors related to the mandatory reporting of child
sexual abuse amongst primary school teachers in South Africa. A cross-sectional research
study, using self-administered survey questionnaires, was conducted amongst foundation
phase teachers in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grounded on the theory of
planned behaviour, this study investigated the relationships between various independent
variables with the teacher’s intention to report child sexual abuse. The independent variables
tested included the teachers’ attitude towards reporting, subjective norm, perceived
behavioural control, knowledge on mandatory reporting, past reporting behaviour and sociodemographic
characteristics of teachers.