CLINICIAN VIEWS ON SEXUALLY AGGRESSIVE-CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES - A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION

Behavioral and family characteristics of sexually aggressive children were obtained from a national convenience sample of treatment provider s to gain descriptive data and to investigate the tentative use of a s ocial learning theory model of sexual aggression of children. One hund red fifty-five professionals responded to a questionnaire of their wor k with a total of 287 sexually aggressive children aged 12 and under. A number of family variables may have impacted the children's sexual b ehavior. The average child resided in a two-parent home, and in most o f these families (70%), at least one caretaker was chemically dependen t; 48% have at least one parent known to have been sexually abused; an d 72% of the children were sexually abused themselves (60% by a careta ker). The children with known sexual abuse histories were younger at t he first sign of sexual aggression than those without known sexual abu se histories. Children under 6 years of age were more Likely to percei ve their sexually aggressive behavior as normal than were older childr en. Differences based on gender of the children were not found for sex ual aggression. These results suggest the potential for use of a socia l learning theory with sexual aggression in children. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research are discussed. Copyrigh t (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.