Predictors of Intrusive Sexual Behaviors in Preschool-Aged Children

2018

Jane Silovsky
[email protected]
405-271-8858

Intrusive sexual behaviors (ISBs) are a specific type of problematic sexual behavior characterized by the invasive nature of the acts (e.g., touching others private parts, attempting intercourse; Friedrich, 1997). The limited amount of research on ISBs has focused on sexual abuse history as the primary predictor. However, Friedrich, Davies, Feher, and Wright (2003) found that ISBs in children up to age 12 were related to four broad conceptual factors: (a) exposure to sexual content, (b) exposure to violent behavior, (c) family adversity, and (d) child vulnerabilities. The current study sought to replicate Friedrichs study using a clinical sample of 217 preschool-aged children (ages two to six). Results supported variables from within the child vulnerabilities construct (externalizing behaviors, βEXT = 0.032, p = 0.001), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria met (βPTSD = 0.177, p = 0.02), and an inverse relationship with age (βAGE = −0.206, p = 0.024). These results highlight

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Consumers/Families, Professionals, Policymakers

https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1447639

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