Children who engaged in interpersonal problematic sexual behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Over one-third of inappropriate sexual contact experienced by children is initiated by other children. Many studies examined child initiators (CIs) of interpersonal problematic sexual behaviors (IPSBs). This study uniquely links CI information with types of sexual contact as described by children they engaged in IPSBs. OBJECTIVE: Describe CIs' characteristics and types of sexual acts they initiated. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Medical charts of CIs and children they engaged in IPSBs. Examinations occurred between 2002 and 2013. METHODS: Retrospective chart review. RESULTS: Most CIs were male (83%) and related to the child they engaged in IPSBs (75%); mean age was 10 years (range 4-17); 58% reported viewing sexually explicit media; 47% experienced sexual abuse. Most CIs (68%) engaged in multiple types of IPSBs. Children who experienced IPSBs initiated by males reported engagement in greater numbers of invasive acts (t(216) = 2.03, p = .043). Older CIs were more likely than younger CIs to report viewing sexually explicit media (χ2(1) = 7.81, p = .007) and those who did were more likely to initiate more invasive acts (t(169) = 2.52, p = .013) compared to CIs who did not. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, most CIs were young and experienced multiple adverse events; the most common types of IPSBs were invasive; and over half the CIs had been exposed to sexually explicit media, which was associated with initiating invasive sexual acts. These findings suggest aiming prevention efforts at young children to help them manage exposure to sexually explicit media and redress victimization experiences.

Cognitions and distress in caregivers after their child's sexual abuse disclosure.

The impact of child sexual abuse on children is well documented, but few studies have examined the impact of a child's sexual abuse disclosure on maternal caregivers. The studies that have been conducted suggest that parental response postdisclosure is variable. The present study examined the association between maternal attributions and abuse-specific cognitions with depression and trauma symptoms postdisclosure. Participants included 68 nonoffending maternal caregivers of children between the ages of 3 and 17 years who experienced child sexual abuse. Findings indicated that caregivers' abuse-specific cognitions were the best predictor of self-reported symptoms of depression after controlling for general negative attributions. These findings suggest that in order to reduce caregivers' distress and to enhance their support of their children, it is important to assess and treat caregivers' abuse-specific cognitions.

Caregivers' efforts to educate their children about child sexual abuse. A replication study.

The current investigation examined parental efforts to educate their children about sexual abuse. Approximately 750 surveys were distributed to parents of kindergarten through third grade youngsters (mean age 8.5) in three New Jersey elementary schools. Participants were 289 guardians (39% response rate) who voluntarily completed a survey assessing demographic characteristics, caregivers' direct or indirect experience with child sexual abuse, and their efforts to educate their children about the issue. As found previously, parents continue to disproportionately focus on strangers as potential offenders and provide limited information particularly in terms of the nature of sexual abuse and the secrecy associated with it. Parents with no direct or indirect experience with child sexual abuse were least likely to talk with their children about the issue in general and when they did so provided less information. These findings were surprisingly similar to earlier investigations despite methodological and sampling differences across investigations. Implications and limitations of the current survey findings discussed.