Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Opportunities: Parenting, Programs, and the Reduction of Risk

Abstract

To date, child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention has relied largely on child-focused education, teaching children how to identify, avoid, and disclose sexual abuse. The purpose of this article is to explore how prevention opportunities can include parents in new and innovative ways. We propose that parents can play a significant role as protectors of their children via two pathways: (i) directly, through the strong external barriers afforded by parent supervision, monitoring, and involvement; and (ii) indirectly, by promoting their children's self-efficacy, competence, well-being, and self-esteem, which the balance of evidence suggests will help them become less likely targets for abuse and more able to respond appropriately and disclose abuse if it occurs. In this article, we first describe why teaching young children about CSA protective behaviors might not be sufficient for prevention. We then narratively review the existing research on parents and prevention and the parenting and family circumstances that may increase a child's risk of experiencing sexual abuse. Finally, we make a number of recommendations for future approaches to prevention that may better inform and involve parents and other adult protectors in preventing CSA.

A Parent-focused Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program: Development, Acceptability, and Feasibility

“…These prevention approaches inform the needed unique prevention strategy in two important ways: parents cannot be expected to voluntarily attend yet another prevention program and short, one-time programs can be effective in improving parent knowledge and behavior. Rudolph et al (2018) suggested the utility of embedding a CSA module into existing evidence-based parent education (PE) programs. PE programs are designed to modify knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about child development, increase positive parent-child interactions, improve parental mental health symptoms and reduce problem behaviors exhibited by the child (Lundahl, Nimer, & Parsons, 2006;Timmer & Urquiza, 2014).…”

“…This is not surprising as CSA is distinct from other forms of maltreatment in meaningful ways for prevention efforts. CSA, like other forms of maltreatment, is likely to occur under a confluence of individual and contextual factors such as parental substance use, parental mental illness, or poor parent-child relationships (Rudolph et al, 2018). However, distinct environmental risk factors contribute to perpetration of CSA, making it possible to identify unique targets for CSA prevention.…”

“…Rather, CSA prevention programs are about teaching parents to create a protective environment. As Rudolph et al (2018) suggest, a parent can directly prevent CSA by increased involvement in their child's life and enacting supervision and monitoring skills, but can also indirectly prevent CSA by encouraging their child's selfefficacy, self-esteem, and confidence. The most effective CSA prevention effort is one that reduces the environmental risk (i.e., potential abuser's access to children), increases awareness of CSA, and teaches how to recognize and report signs of sexual abuse .…”

Child Physical Abuse: A Pathway to Comprehensive Prevention

“…The United States has established a comprehensive array of health promotion and CPA prevention resources, services, and policies. It has allocated funding to implement policies and provide services and resources (e.g., Fortson et al 2016; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2016; Rudolph et al 2018). The United States and its citizens are committed to CPA prevention.…”

Achieving Comprehensive Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

“…The United States has developed a comprehensive array of child abuse and neglect (CAN) prevention resources and has allocated funding to provide these resources (e.g., Forston et al 2016;Rudolph et al 2018;U.S. Department.…”