Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T01:54:45.867Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's sexual behaviour and knowledge: a community study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Carol Fitzpatrick ,
Ann Deehan  and
Siobhan Jennings
Ann Deehan
Affiliation:
Department of Child Psychiatry, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin 12, Ireland
Siobhan Jennings
Affiliation:
Eastern Health Board, Dublin, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective: To provide contemporary information on sexual behaviour and knowledge among normal Irish children, as perceived by their parents.

Method: The study was carried out in an Eastern Health Board urban Community Care Area. The parents of a random sample of all three year olds, and all seven and 12 year olds attending mainstream primary schools within the community care area formed the study population. A semi structured interview was used, covering demographic data, general play, sexual knowledge, sexual behaviour and family behaviour.

Results: A total of 233 parents participated, giving a 67% response rate. Approximately 40% of children in each age group were reported by their parents as showing interest in their own genitalia, this being significantly more common in boys. Approximately one half of three year olds were reported by parents as engaging in play with their own genitalia, this activity becoming increasingly uncommon in the older age groups. Sexual play with other children was reported by 12.5% of parents, and was significantly more likely among the three year olds and amongst boys. Explicit sexual behaviour involving older children, such as oral genital contact or attempted intercourse, were not reported for any child. Interest in genitalia of family members was very common in three year olds, while touching genitalia of family members was unusual. Approximately one third of parents had had some discussion with their older girls about pubertal bodily changes, but male adolescent bodily changes were rarely discussed. Mothers were the usual source of information on sexual matters to children of both sexes.

Conclusions: Sexual interest and exploration are common is young children, while explicit sexual behaviours which come to adult attention are unusual. Little discussion takes place between parents and older children, particularly boys, about specific aspects of reproduction including pubertal bodily changes.

Keywords

Child sexual behaviourChildhood sexuality
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 87 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Serbin, LA, Sprafkin, CH. A developmental approach to sexuality from infancy to adolescence. In: Katchadourian, LA, editor. Fundamentals of human sexuality. New York: Holt Reinhart and Winston, 1985: 193–288.Google Scholar
2.Goldman, R, Goldman, J. Show me yours – what children think about sex. London: Penguin, 1988: 137–62.Google Scholar
3.Rutter, M. Normal psychosexual development. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1971; 11: 259–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Kolko, DJ, Maser, JT. Behavioural/emotional indicators of sexual abuse in child psychiatric inpatients: a controlled comparison with physical abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 1988; 12: 529–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Bannister, A. Child sexual abuse (NSPCC). Harlow, Essex: Longmann, 1989.Google Scholar
6.Friedrich, WN, Beilke, RL, Urquiza, AJ. Children from sexually abusive families: a behavioural comparison. J Interpersonal Violence 1987; 2: 391–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Money, J, Ehrhardt, A. Man and woman, boy and girl. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
8.Martinson, FM. Eroticism in infancy and childhood. J Sexual Research 1976; 12: 251–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Finkelhor, D. Sexually victimized children. New York: The Free Press, 1979: 74.Google Scholar
10.Smith, M. Normal sexual behaviour in families. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Child Abuse & Neglect, Hamburg, 1990.Google Scholar
11.Friedrich, WN, Grambsch, P, Broughton, D, Kuiper, J, Beilke, RL. Normative sexual behaviour in children. Pediatrics 1991; 88: 456–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Lamb, S, Coakly, M. ‘Normal’ childhood sexual play and games: differentiating play from abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 1993; 17: 515–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Jennings, S, Doorley, P. Public Health Report – Phase 1. Dublin: Eastern Health Board Publications, 1992.Google Scholar
14. Central Statistics Office, Dublin. Irish Social Class Scale, 1993.Google Scholar
15.Freeman, C, Tyrer, P. Research methods in psychiatry. London: Gaskell, 1989.Google Scholar
16.Finkelhor, D. A source book on child sexual abuse. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage, 1986.Google Scholar
17.Achenbach, TM, Edelbrock, C. Manual for the child behaviour checklist and revised child behaviour profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, 1983: 251.Google Scholar
18.Rosenfeld, A, Siegel-Gorelick, B, Haavik, D, Duryea, M, Wenegrat, A, Martin, J, Bailey, R. Parental perceptions of children's modesty: a cross-sectional survey of ages two to ten years. Psychiatry 1984; 47: 351–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed