Abstract
Purpose: Identifying sexual grooming behaviors holds potential to reduce the occurrence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and increase disclosure rates. Given the influential role parents play in CSA prevention and the lack of previous research examining parent-specific sexual grooming recognition abilities, this study examined both generalized adult (i.e., parent and nonparent) and parent special abilities to recognize sexual grooming behaviors as identified in the Sexual Grooming Model (SGM), as well as the relationship between reported confidence in recognition abilities and measured abilities. Methods: The current study used an experimental vignette design among a sample of 420 parents and 445 nonparents to measure abilities to associate sexual grooming behaviors with CSA. Participants also rated how confident they felt in their abilities to recognize signs of sexual grooming. Results: Parental status did not have a significant impact on sexual grooming recognition abilities. However, the sample as a whole (i.e., parents and nonparents combined) were more likely to recognize sexual grooming when presented with behaviors from all of the SGM’s stages or behaviors related to desensitization to touch and sexual content. Participant confidence in their recognition abilities did not predict measured abilities. Conclusion: Regardless of parental status, the sample did not strongly associate sexual grooming behaviors with CSA perpetration except when behaviors related to sexual content and physical touch were presented. This suggests heightened associations of more overt sexual grooming behaviors with CSA. The discrepancy found between confidence and recognition abilities calls for targeted educational efforts to increase awareness in types of behaviors that may be indicative of abuse.
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Data Availability
The data used in this study is available upon request from the authors.
Notes
1While the term “molester” is no longer commonly used within the sexual offender literature due to a focus on person-centered language (American Psychological Association, 2020), the researchers chose to use this term within the study’s materials based on the assumption that this term would be more familiar to participants and was used in prior research studies with a similar methodology (Winters & Jeglic, 2016, 2017).
Rather than examining the associations between participant recognition confidence and measured recognition abilities within stage specific conditions, the Nongrooming and All Grooming conditions were specifically assessed as these conditions best reflect either the presence or absence of the sexual grooming process as a whole.
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Acknowledgements
The authors greatly acknowledge the Forensic Psychology Research Institute and the MA Excellence Fees Fund at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York for their assistance in funding participation in this study.
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This work was supported by the Forensic Psychology Research Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (No associated grant number) and the MA Student Research Funds from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (No associated grant number).
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Steedman, L.A., Jeglic, E.L. & Winters, G.M. Examining Parental Abilities to Recognize Sexual Grooming Behaviors of Child Sexual Abusers. Journ Child Adol Trauma (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-023-00599-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-023-00599-x