Parents' Perceptions of the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse and their Protective Behaviors: Findings from a Qualitative Study
Open accessAbstract
This study examined parents' perceptions of the risk of child sexual abuse and self-reported protective strategies. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of 24 parents of preschool-age children, purposefully selected to be diverse in gender, race/ethnicity, age, and personal experience with sexual abuse victimization. The findings support earlier research showing little congruence between perceptions of risk for the general population and perceptions of personal risk. The qualitative methodology provided some reasons for the discrepancy: comparisons parents make between themselves and other parents, characteristics of sexual abuse that affect perceptions, and the tendency of parents to blur the boundaries of sexual abuse with other forms of victimization. Parents identified strategies they used to protect their children from abuse and their underlying thoughts regarding protection. The exploratory results indicate the importance of understanding parents' cognitive processes in estimating risk and acting protectively and suggest further avenues for research.
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Parents use various protective practices, such as supervision, monitoring, and involvement, to create external barriers, with direct discussions of abuse prevention only a small part.
“parents use a variety of protective practices (e.g., supervision, monitoring and involvement) to create the external barriers that may keep their children safe from CSA, of which direct discussions of abuse prevention in the home are only a small part.”
From Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Opportunities: Parenting, Programs, and the Reduction of Risk (2018) · cites this paper as Collins, 1996
In “What Protective Strategies Do Parents Employ?” (p. 6), the paper describes supervision, relationships, questioning, and monitoring child care alongside abuse-prevention education. It does not establish that direct discussions were only a small part of parents’ practices: Table 2 (p. 6) lists education for 22 parents (92%), and the discussion on p. 7 says nearly all had talked with their children about safety. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cites
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Wurtele, S. K. (2009) · Journal of Child Sexual Abuse · doi:10.1080/10538710802584650 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Opportunities: Parenting, Programs, and the Reduction of Risk
Rudolph, J., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Shanley, D. C., & Hawkins, R. (2018) · Child Maltreatment · doi:10.1177/1077559517729479 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Parental Discussion, Protective Practices and Attitudes
Rudolph, J. I., Walsh, K., Shanley, D. C., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2022) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/08862605211072258 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Collins, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Collins, Mary Elizabeth
- Venue
- Child Maltreatment
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1996-02
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 53-64
- ISSN
- 1077-5595 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-6119
- OpenAlex
- W1968555355
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Child Maltreatment (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Keywords
- child sexual abuse, protective behavior, risk perception, preschool children, child protection
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