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

Elizabeth J. Letourneau, Cindy M. Schaeffer, Catherine P. Bradshaw, Amanda E. Ruzicka, Luciana C. Assini-Meytin, Reshmi Nair, Evelyn Thorne

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)129-141
Number of pages13
JournalChild maltreatment
Volume29
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2024

Keywords

  • childhood sexual abuse
  • prevention
  • problematic sexual behaviors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health

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