Active Research
Differentiating adverse childhood experience profiles of male youths who exhibit harmful sexual behaviours
- Understanding child sexual abuse
- Prevention of child sexual abuse
- Response to child sexual abuse
Research Topic areas
- Drivers of child sexual abuse
- Harmful sexual behaviours
- Intersection with other violence/victimisation
- Justice & legal responses
- Prevalence
- Therapeutic responses
Project Duration
Start: July 2023
End: November 2024
Geographical Scope
QLD
Populations
Offenders/those engaging in child sexual abuse
Children (6-12 years)Adolescents (13-17 years)Young adults (18-25 years)
Gender
Male
Project Lead
Dr Lisa Thomsen, Griffith University
Project Team
Professor John Rynne, Griffith Youth Forensic Service, Griffith University
Dr James Ogilvie, Griffith Criminology Institute
Background
Youths that exhibit harmful sexual behaviours are a diverse population, with a broad range of offence types, victim characteristics and modus operandi. While adverse childhood experiences are prevalent in the developmental histories of youths that sexually harm, greater knowledge of the differential influence of childhood abuse, neglect, maltreatment and other adversity is needed.
Aims
This project aims to further understanding of relationships between adverse childhood experiences and harmful sexual behaviours for male youth by exploring the ways in which experiences co-occur, and examining differences in patterns of co-occurrence in order to identify typologies of youths that sexually harm.
Methods
This quantitative study will utilise two sources of data on male youths who have exhibited harmful sexual behaviours – a Youth Justice administrative dataset on 427 youths convicted for sexual harm, and data extracted from clinical case files of 370 young males receiving services from a specialised treatment program for youths engaging in harmful sexual behaviours.
Significance and Dissemination
Identifying typologies of youths that exhibit harmful sexual behaviours will provide greater understanding of the aetiology of sexual harm perpetration, thereby informing policy and practice decisions, and allowing intervention strategies to be tailored to the specific needs of young people, with the ultimate goal of preventing sexual harm.
Further Details
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Funding body:
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
Funding budget:
$105,283 grant
$105,283 grant
Monitoring and governance:
This project is guided by oversight of the Project Advisory Group
This project is guided by oversight of the Project Advisory Group
Australian Human Research Ethics Committee:
This project is subject to ethical oversight by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee
This project is subject to ethical oversight by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee
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