I think - at least in the past - there was some kind of assumption that "kids bounce back" when confronted with traumatic experiences. I recall one family member telling me so, and my reply being "Yeah, kids bounce back.. as broken adults" which is pretty much true for a number of my own family members.

That said, I think it must also be said that not ALL children are traumatised by challenging events in their lives, some do indeed bounce back. But it all depends upon a complex combination of native or inherited resilience (as opposed to native lack of same), the psychological severity of the experience (while wrong, not all forms of what we would consider 'abuse' are necessarily also 'traumatic') and the strength of childhood environmental supports - physical, emotional & psychological (or indeed lack of them).

In any case, in the bad old days when adults didn't like to think about such things (or indeed the good old days to some, who like to imagine that Enid Blyton idylls were universal for all children until child abuse was invented sometime during the 1980's), children were forced to either shut-up and put-up and hopefully bounce back, or be branded as disgusting fantasists and trouble makers. Personally, I'm exceedingly glad that things are changing and abuse is no longer too taboo to talk about. Still, with the ongoing Saville & co revelations, and indeed the exposure of the Northern grooming gangs epidemic, it's a huge reminder of how deep such taboos continue to be.