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RESEARCH
This longitudinal study explored four potential protective factors for sexual violence (SV) perpetration (empathy, parental monitoring, social support and school belonging) across middle and high school. Basile and her colleagues focus is on how different protective factor trajectories can mitigate sexual violence perpetration during this developmental stage.
The authors followed 3,549 middle and high school students in four Midwestern middle schools and six high schools. They found that 20% of participants reported engaging in some form of sexual violence perpetration.
The study found that overall, youth who did not perpetrate sexual violence in high school showed higher empathy, and experienced higher parental monitoring, and social support over time. In fact, earlier experiences (e.g., middle school) of these factors tended to be significantly different for students who caused sexual violence and those who did not. For example, students who did not perpetrate sexual violence experienced significantly higher social supports and showed significantly higher levels of empathy at the beginning of middle school than those who did engage in perpetration. Parental monitoring decreased for all participants (as would be expected) for students as they progress from middle school to high school. However, sexual violence perpetrators showed lower parental monitoring and support at the end of middle school and high school. The authors suggest that longer engagement from parents may be a significant opportunity for prevention and echoes the success of social emotional learning programs (SEL) in reducing sexual harassment in the schools.
The only factor that was not significantly different between those who cause harm and those who did not was school belongingness. Interestingly, while school belongingness increased over time for all participants, it more steeply increased for both male and females who perpetrated sexual harm when compared to their non-harming counterparts.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALS
These findings show what many professionals have known intuitively: parental involvement, and social supports are all critical to healthy adolescent development. Likewise, while the idea of empathy has sometimes been controversial in the field, it is difficult to imagine how young people can mature and maintain healthy, satisfying relationships without it. These findings further show the importance of community-based, comprehensive approaches for preventing sexual abuse by teens. The middle school years are critically important in terms of prevention, as is keeping parents engaged longer into high school. Three of the four protective factors noted in the study (empathy, parental monitoring, and social support) can provide a beginning template for therapists and interventionists in working with middle-schoolers and high-school adolescents who are at risk for problematic behaviors.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD
With the growing focus on preventing sexual violence perpetration, this study’s results help to add critical information for prevention programs. One clear aspect is that where adolescents have often been removed from schools and social supports as a result of sexually abusive behaviors, these findings illustrate how carefully adults have to tread in balancing risks and protective factors. It is not as simple as placing teens far from others. These findings shine a light on how we might develop ways to provide social supports and safe school situations in ways that maximize the safety of all.
CITATION:
Basile, K. C., Rostad, W. L., Leemis, R. W., Espelage, D. L., & Davis, J. P. (2018). Protective factors for sexual violence: Understanding how trajectories relate to perpetration in high school. Prevention science, 19, 1123-1132.6.
ABSTRACT:
Adolescent sexual violence (SV) perpetration is a significant public health problem. Many risk factors for perpetration are known, but less is known about what protects youth from perpetration, or how protective factors change over time. This longitudinal study reports trajectories of four potential protective factors for SV perpetration (empathy, parental monitoring, social support, and school belonging) across middle and high school and examines their relationship to SV perpetration in high school. Findings reveal that youth who identified as SV perpetrators had significantly lower mean empathy scores (d = − 0.18, 95 % CI [−0.26, −0.10]) and social support scores (d = − 0.05, 95 % CI [−0.14, −0.03]) at the beginning of middle school than non-perpetrators. We also found that youth who identified as SV perpetrators had a quicker deceleration in parental monitoring (slopes) and empathy from middle to high school, compared to non-perpetrators. Within-sex differences emerged; significant differences in slopes were detected for school belonging between male perpetrators and male non-perpetrators (Wald test = 3.76 (1), p = .05) and between female perpetrators and female non-perpetrators (Wald test = 3.95(1), p = .04). Significant differences in slopes for empathy between female perpetrators and female non-perpetrators (Wald test = 4.76(1), p = .03) were also detected. No differences were found between male and female SV perpetrators for either empathy or school belonging. These findings have implications for the content and timing of adolescent SV prevention efforts. Intervention in adolescence, involving parents and schools in a comprehensive, multi-level approach, may be effective in preventing SV perpetration.
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