2006 - School of Social Service Administration - University of Chicago

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THE EARLY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN By Jeffry W. Thigpen Submitted March 2006 to the faculty of the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration CHAIR: Jeanne C. Marsh, Ph.D., Dean and George Herbert Jones Professor AAn important but neglected area in the child sexual behavior research literature is the sexual behavior of African-American children. To begin filling this empirical gap, this exploratory study investigated the sexual behavior of African- American children without known histories of sexual abuse and examined the familial context in which this behavior emerged. Utilizing survey research methods, primary caregivers of 2–12 year-old African-American children were recruited from a public pediatric clinic using a convenience sampling strategy and administered the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI) (Friedrich, 1997), a parental report measure that assesses a broad range of childhood sexual behavior in nine specific domains. Two hundred twenty seven (227) primary caregivers constitute the research sample. Results indicate that a broad range of sexual behavior was observed by primary caregivers of 2–12 year-old African-American children without known histories of sexual abuse. This behavior, however, was reported to occur infrequently. Non-parametric statistical tests used to assess differences in overall levels of sexual behavior by age and gender revealed statistically significant differences across the 3 age groups evaluated in the study. Exploratory latent class analysis showed a high probability of engaging in a single type of sexual behavior for each of the 3 age groups: boundary-related sexual behavior for 2–5 year-old children; voyeuristic sexual behavior for 6–9 year-old children; and sexual behavior reflecting sexual interest for 10–12 year-old children. While overall differences in the level of sexual behavior observed and reported for boys and girls were not statistically significant, differential sexual behavior patterns did emerge. Latent class analysis showed that the probability of girls engaging in sexually intrusive behavior was extremely low in comparison to boys. Finally, logistic regression analysis showed the sexual behavior of African- American children to be associated with familial beliefs and customs around sexuality. Primary caregivers who reported having a belief in the normalcy of
DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS childhood sexual behavior and expression were more likely to observe and report it. Similarly, primary caregivers who reported being permissive of co-sleeping were more likely to report having observed their child display sexual behavior. Primary caregiver reports of childhood sexual behavior were also shown to be related to the age of the child, the primary caregiver’s marital status, and the child’s exposure to adult sexuality. These results, in tandem, point to the developmental and socio-cultural contexts of childhood sexual behavior. Because the experiences of children are adversely affected by the absence of empirical data regarding their sexual behavior, the findings of this study can be used to inform the policies and practices of formal helping systems such as child welfare. ABOUT THE AUTHOR JEFFRY W. THIGPEN is an assistant professor of social work at Indiana University, where he teaches courses in human behavior and research. His research interests include childhood sexual behavior, sexual development, sexual culture within families, and sexual health. Supported by the Ford Foundation-funded Sexual Research Fellowship program of the Social Science Research Council, Dr. Thigpen’s dissertation research explored the sexual behavior of prepubescent African-American children. His work appears in John Bancroft’s (Ed.) Sexual Development in Childhood (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003) and in Pediatric Research (2002). Dr. Thigpen received his M.S.W. from Wayne State University. 81
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2006 - School of Social Service Administration - University of Chicago

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