Child Sexual Abuse Prevention among a Sample of U.S. Parents

Abstract Parents play an important role in protecting their children from childhood sexual abuse. Yet, there is relatively little empirical research examining what parents in the United States are currently doing to keep their children safe. Thus, our study examined which strategies a sample of United States parents reported using to prevent childhood sexual abuse and assessed the attitudes and beliefs they hold about sexual violence prevention. Parents were recruited for participation using an online crowd sourcing platform and completed a survey assessing their attitudes and beliefs related to childhood sexual abuse prevention. To assess prevention behaviors, participants reported their engagement in certain behaviors, use of prevention resources, and strategies for assessing the safety of other adults. The final sample ( n = 383) was primarily White and college educated, with a slight female majority, and reported households largely comprised of cohabitating mothers and fathers. We found that parents in this sample are generally reporting implementing strategies reflecting best practice, including internet safety behaviors and parent-child discussions and education. Parents from this sample reported attitudes and beliefs thought to positively contribute to childhood sexual abuse prevention, including awareness of the prevalence of perpetration by known individuals, support for bodily autonomy, and use of correct anatomical terms for genitals. Lastly, a small negative correlation was found between parental perceptions of their child(ren) not being at risk for childhood sexual abuse and parental engagement in discussion-based practices.