Gender Of Perpetrator, Gender Of Victim, And Relationship Between Perpetrator And Victim As Factors Influencing How Adults View Coercive Sexual Behavior In Childhood

Abstract

The sexual abuse of children by adults is a serious social problem. Some sexually abused children become sexually abusive toward others. This is sometimes called coercive sexual behavior, and little is known about how adults view these acts. A better understanding of how adults view coercive sexual behavior between children is critical due to the harm it causes victims, perpetrators, and society. Also, parents are typically held legally responsible for their minor children, and it is their responsibility to intervene in this type of behavior. Three hundred and eighty-five college students participated in a study that examined descriptions of coercive sexual behavior between elementary school-aged children. This study used a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design to examine how gender of a child perpetrator, gender of a child victim, and relationship between a child perpetrator and child victim (peer or sibling) influence how adults view coercive sexual behavior in childhood. Participants read one of eight vignettes describing an incident of coercive sexual behavior between two children and answered a twenty-eight-item questionnaire based on it. Data was analyzed using correlation coefficients, factor analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Findings from the present study suggest that the gender of the children and the relationship between them are factors influencing how adults view coercive sexual behavior in childhood.