Responsible Behavior With Younger Children: Results From a Pilot Randomized Evaluation of a School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Perpetration Prevention Program.

Many efforts to prevent child sexual abuse (CSA) aim to teach children strategies for recognizing, resisting, and reporting victimization. There is limited evidence that victimization-focused efforts actually prevent CSA. Moreover, these efforts often overlook the fact that many children and adolescents engage in problem sexual behavior against younger children. Responsible Behavior with Younger Children (RBYC) is a novel universal school-based perpetration-focused intervention that aims to prevent the onset of inappropriate, harmful, or illegal sexual behavior by adolescents against younger children.1 Responsible behavior with younger children was designed to provide adolescents and their parents with the knowledge and tools to help adolescents interact appropriately with younger children and avoid CSA behaviors. In this paper we describe intervention development, summarize lessons learned from implementing RBYC in four urban schools, and report results from our pilot randomized waitlist-controlled trial (RCT) with 160 6th and 7th grade students. Results indicate RBYC was associated with increased accuracy in youth knowledge about CSA and CSA-related laws, and with increased behavioral intention to avoid or prevent CSA with younger children and peer sexual harassment. Although the sample was small and the effects were relatively modest, the findings do suggest that RBYC holds promise for preventing the onset of problem sexual behavior.

Responsible Behavior with Younger Children: Examining the Feasibility of a Classroom-Based Program to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse Perpetration by Adolescents.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a preventable public health problem typically addressed with either after-the-fact interventions or prevention programs focused on teaching children to protect themselves and report abuse. Such responses do little to prevent CSA victimization, leading to calls for prevention efforts targeting individuals most at risk of perpetrating CSA. These individuals include young adolescents, who are prone to making mistakes and bad decisions when it comes to their sexual behaviors. To begin to address this call to action, we developed Responsible Behavior with Younger Children (RBYC), a universal school-based prevention program to provide sixth and seventh grade students (and their parents and educators) with the knowledge, skills, and tools to prevent engaging younger children in sexual behaviors. School-based CSA prevention interventions are often met with feasibility and acceptability concerns including that (a) people at risk of offending are impervious to prevention efforts, (b) schools do not have the resources to take on additional programs, and (c) the content is too sensitive for educators, parents, and students. The goal of this article is to describe how the RBYC program was developed to address these concerns. We also summarize data on the feasibility of the RBYC program obtained from focus groups with educators, parents, and students during the development of the program and interviews with educators after a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). Feedback received during program development and after the pilot RCT suggests that RBYC is relevant, salient, palatable, and feasible for implementation in middle schools.

Help wanted: Lessons on prevention from young adults with a sexual interest in prepubescent children.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults with a sexual interest in young children represent an underserved population. The needs of this group, and their implications for child sexual abuse prevention program development, are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to advance knowledge about adolescents and young adults with a sexual interest in children to better inform the development of effective prevention and mental health efforts. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample consisted of 30 young adults, ages 18-30, from North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. METHODS: Researchers conducted telephone interviews with participants, and asked about when their interest in children emerged, how they responded to this sexual interest, and what resources could have been helpful during this process. Participants also completed a brief, online survey. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Dedoose software. RESULTS: Participants reported that their sexual interest in children emerged during adolescence, and as part of that process, they experienced a variety of emotions, including fear, shame, and feelings of isolation. Participants also noted the need for role models who are sexually interested in children and successfully navigating life, positive messaging, and support from families and the community. CONCLUSIONS: Young people with a sexual interest in children are largely hidden, vulnerable, and looking for help. Findings from this research can be used to direct the development of the prevention and mental health programs that are responsive to the needs of this community.