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Child-on-child (Peer-on-peer) Sexual Abuse

“Talking about child sexual abuse would have helped me”: Young people who sexually abused reflect on preventing harmful sexual behavior.

Open Access: No.

 

Abstract

Harmful sexual behavior carried out by children and young people accounts for about half of all child sexual abuse perpetration. The aim of this study was to draw on the insights of young people who had been sexually abusive to enhance the current prevention agenda. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 14 young people and six treatment-providing workers. Sampling was purposive and the young people had previously completed a treatment program for harmful sexual behaviour in Victoria, Australia. The young people were approached as experts based on their previous experience of engaging in harmful sexual behavior. At the same time, their past abusive behavior was not condoned or minimised. Constructivist Grounded Theory was used to analyse the qualitative data. Opportunities for preventing harmful sexual behavior were the focus of the interviews with young people and workers. The research identified three opportunities for prevention,  which involved acting on behalf of children and young people to: reform their sexuality education; redress their victimization experiences; and help their management of pornography. These  opportunities could inform the design of initiatives to enhance the prevention agenda.

Relevance

Strong evidence “now exists to associate harmful sexual behavior with  experiences of childhood trauma and pornography. The evidence  demonstrates a relationship between being a victim of child sexual abuse and  developing harmful sexual behaviour.” Additionally, “Harmful sexual behavior by children and young people is also associated with pornography use.”

Most importantly, the young people in this study who had abused other children “identified…the trouble they had managing pornography…They implied the likelihood of their harmful sexual behavior occurring could have been reduced if pornography had not been present.” Those who work with sexually abusive young children “reflected that pornography was a significant problem in the lives of children and young people who abuse. Pornography may be a particularly problem for children and young people with learning difficulties, who do not necessarily have the capacity to differentiate the representations from socially appropriate sexual behavior.”

It is proposed that “helping pornography management may have significant prevention potential.”

Citation

McKibbin, G., Humphreys, C., & Hamilton, B. (2017). “Talking about child sexual abuse would have helped me”: Young people who sexually abused reflect on preventing harmful sexual behavior. Child abuse & neglect, 70, 210–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.017