Sexual grooming: Integrating research, practice, prevention, and policy

Abstract

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the current research on sexual grooming, focusing on how individuals manipulate potential victims to facilitate abuse while preventing disclosure and detection. It explores the history and growing public recognition of sexual grooming strategies, highlighting high-profile cases and abuse within child-serving organizations like the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts of America. The volume reviews models of sexual grooming, such as the Sexual Grooming Model (SGM), and discusses the varied contexts in which grooming behaviors occur, including online, familial, and institutional settings.<br><br><p><strong>Key areas of coverage include:</strong></p>

<ul> <li>Unique contexts and facets in which sexual grooming behaviour has been observed, including online grooming, personal/self-grooming, familial grooming, institutional grooming, and grooming behaviours of females.</li> <li>The ways in which sexual grooming strategies may be manifested in sex trafficking cases and in adult sexual abuse.</li> <li>Assessment and treatment of sexual grooming, as well as prevention strategies.</li> <li>The implementation of grooming research to inform law enforcement efforts and court decision-making.</li> <li>The creation and adoption of legislation and policies designed to prevent sexual grooming.</li> </ul>