Incest is sexual contact between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal (e.g., parents and children, uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews, etc.). This usually takes the form of an older family member sexually abusing a child or adolescent.

Incest is sexual contact between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal (e.g., parents and children, uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews, etc.). This usually takes the form of an older family member sexually abusing a child or adolescent.

EXCERPTS from incest http://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/incest

What makes Incest different than child sexual abuse?

All forms of child sexual abuse can have negative long-term effects for the victim. You can read about some of those effects here.
Incest is especially damaging because it disrupts the child’s primary support system, the family.

• When a child is abused by someone outside the family, the child’s family is often able to offer support and a sense of safety.
• When the abuser is someone in the family, the family may not be able to provide support or a sense of safety. Since the children (especially younger children) often have limited resources outside the family, it can be very hard for them to recover from incest
• Incest can damage a child’s ability to trust, since the people who were supposed to protect and care for them have abused them.
• Survivors of incest sometimes have difficulty developing trusting relationships
• It can also be very damaging for a child if a non-abusing parent is aware of the abuse and chooses—for whatever reason—not to take action to stop it.
• see link for rest of information on incest http://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/incest