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28 Behav. Sci. & L. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/bsclw28 and id is 1 raw text is: Behavioral Sciences and the Law Behav. Sci. Law 28: 1 23 (2010) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/bsl.919 Searching for the Developmental Origins of Sexual Violence: Examining the Co-Occurrence of Physical Aggression and Sexual Behaviors in Early Childhood Patrick Lussier, Ph.D.*'t and Jay Healey, Ph.D. studentt While developmental perspectives on sexual violence have gained much interest in recent years, few empirical studies have been conducted to better understand its origins. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the onset of physical aggression and normative sexual behaviors in preschoolers. This study is based on a sample of at- risk children (n = 100) recruited as part of the KD-BEAR project, an on-going longi- tudinal study conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Semi-structured interviews were completed with the primary caregiver and the child. The structural model examined showed a significant and important latent correlation between physical aggression and sexual behaviors across models tested, after controlling for child and familial characteristics. Furthermore, findings showed that male preschoo- lers coming from low income families having been referred for assessment and/or treatment for an externalizing spectrum disorder showed higher levels of both aggres- sion and sexual behaviors. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of developmental models of sexual violence, and the secondary prevention of sexual violence at its earliest stages. Copyright 0 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION In spite of significant developments over recent years, the prevention of sexual violence is still in its infancy. For the most part, sexual violence prevention has been left to various criminal justice system interventions with the goal of decreasing the risk of sexual recidivism in convicted sex offenders. More specifically, recent criminal justice initiatives have been focusing on individual-level interventions to tackle the problem of sexual violence. These interventions have been largely reactive and have provided little guidance with respect to the primary and secondary prevention of sexual violence. In the United States these interventions include, but are not limited to, civil commitment, home residency restrictions, public notification, and sex offender registries. These measures were first introduced to deal with adult sex offenders and later extended to juvenile sex offenders in spite of the lack of empirical evidence showing any significant *Correspondence to: Patrick Lussier, Ph.D., School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University Centre for Research on Sexual Violence, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia Canada, V5A 1S6. E-mail: plussierasfu.ca tSchool of Criminology, Simon Fraser University. The Vancouver Longitudinal Study (KD-BEAR project) was funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Copyright 0 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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