Sexual boundary violations by adolescents against their peers and younger children
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: The intervention group receives a school-based prevention program aimed at students in grades 6 and 7. The program consists of five 45-minute sessions, which are integrated into regular class
Sponsors
Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Pupils in sixth and seventh grade who are capable of giving their consent, who attend a mixed-gender class at one of the participating German mainstream schools, who are fluent in German and whose legal guardians have consented to their participation in the program and the data collection are included.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Students are excluded if they do not agree to participate in the program and the data collection or if they do not have the written consent of their legal guardians.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The primary outcomes focus on psychosocial constructs central to the prevention of sexual boundary violations among adolescents. Assessments are conducted at T0 (baseline), T1 (post-test for the intervention group or second baseline for the waitlist control group), and T2 (follow-up for the intervention group or post-test for the waitlist control group). The items are conceptually based on Taylor et al. (2011). a) Self-efficacy regarding the prevention of boundary-violating behavior: Measured using 21 items assessing students' perceived ability to avoid, interrupt, or appropriately respond to sexually inappropriate behavior toward peers or younger children. Responses are recorded on an 11-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (“strongly disagree”) to 10 (“strongly agree”). b) Attitudes toward sexual boundary violations: Ten items assess students’ personal attitudes regarding sexual boundary violations, rated on the same 0–10 scale. c) Perceived norms related to sexual boundary violations: Eight items capture adolescents’ perceptions of social norms concerning sexual misconduct. Responses range from 0 to 10. d) Behavioral intention to avoid sexually inappropriate behavior: Seven short case vignettes are presented to measure students’ intentions to avoid sexually inappropriate behavior. Each vignette includes 4–5 possible responses, rated on a 1–10 Likert scale. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The secondary outcomes provide additional insight into potential influencing factors and are assessed at T0, T1, and T2. a) Perceived social support: Measured using the German version of the Social Support Appraisals Scale (SS-A-d; Vaux et al., 1986), which captures self-perceived social support in daily life. The subscale assessing partner support is excluded due to the age of the target group. b) Victimization experiences: Assessed using a 26-item binary-response questionnaire (Yes/No), developed in reference to Halpérin et al. (1996) and Schlinzig & Beier (2020), targeting past experiences of sexual victimization. c) Perpetration experiences: Assessed using the same item battery as for victimization. Participation is voluntary and anonymous, and no legal consequences result from responses. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactClara Violet Niemann
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualmedizin, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Outcome results
None listed