Teachers’ and parents’ reports on 3- to 6-year-old children’s sexual behavior—a comparison☆

Abstract

Objectives: The main purpose of the study was to compare observed range and frequency of sexual behavior in 3- to 6-year-olds in two different environments: the home and the daycare center. The study also aimed to investigate parental and staff opinions on child sexual behavior.

Methods: Parents and daycare teachers of 185 preschool children, from different socio-economic housing areas, answered extensive questionnaires about each child’s sexual and general behavior. They were also asked about their own opinions on child sexual behavior.

Results: Parents observed significantly more sexual behavior in their children at home compared to teachers’ observations at the daycare centers in all age groups, while teachers reported more general behavior problems. Significant gender differences on sexual behavior were displayed at the daycare centers but not at home. Rare behaviors at home were also very unusual at the daycare center. Parental and staff attitudes toward child sexuality were quite open, although 67% of the parents and 41% of the teachers never spoke to the children on sexual matters. One fifth of the adults used no term for genitals at all, and even fewer had a name for girls’ genitals.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that young children explore their sexuality more at home than in settings with groups of children where the daily activities may be more structured and monitored. It enhances the importance of looking at the context in which the sexual behavior is taking place when investigating problematic sexual behavior.

Introduction

The preschool years are times of increased curiosity and intense questioning about everything (Smith, 1993), including sexuality. Hewitt (1999, p. 15) states that “nowhere across the life span does development move more quickly, or involve such dramatic change, as it does in the preschool years.” Expressions of sexual feelings, stimulation, and body exploration can be seen as a normal part of child development and most children display such behavior in periods during their childhood (Johnson & Feldmeth, 1993). Early sexual interactions with peers are likewise expected and will be experienced in the context of the associations each of the participating children bring with them (Ryan, 1998). Children use play activities not only to re-experience events which already have occurred, but they also anticipate future events where the play can be instructive and serve as a role rehearsal for adult life, also in sexual play (Lamb & Coakley, 1993).

Some children, however, may exhibit problematic, sexualized behavior. One factor that may lead to this type of behavior is sexual abuse; another is that there are problematic features in the child’s family environment Friedrich 1993, Friedrich et al 1998, Kendall-Tackett et al 1993. It is therefore important to establish what constitutes normal sexual behavior in different settings, to be able to identify and characterize unusual and possibly sexualized behavior (McNicol & McGregor, 1999). Up until the very end of the past century, only limited empirical research in the area of childhood sexual behavior had been carried out, despite the fact that there is a strong consensus around the importance to differentiate between normal and deviant sexual behavior in children (McNicol & McGregor, 1999). Thorough, descriptive studies of child sexual behavior in different settings may be one step forward toward creating a valid understanding of the nature of child sexuality (Gundersen, Melås, & Skår, 1981).

Some retrospective studies on child sexual experiences have been done. In a study of undergraduate women, for instance, Lamb and Coakley (1993) found that 85% of the respondents remembered having participated in a childhood sexual game. Most of them (76%) had experienced their sexual activities with their ordinary playmates. In more than half of the cases, the games were never discovered by any adult. In most of the remaining cases, it was parents who discovered the sexual activities of the children.

Parental reports have been the most common method of empirically studying young children. Friedrich and his colleagues Friedrich et al 1991, Friedrich 1997, Friedrich et al 1998 have, in several American studies on child sexual behavior, established that a variety of behaviors known to their parents occur in young children. High sexual behavior scores appeared to be correlated with general behavior problems. Rosenfeld, Bailey, Siegel, and Bailey (1986) found, in a study of children’s genital-touching behavior in the family, that parents reported that children touch the father’s genitals less often than the mother’s breasts or genitals. Mothers felt more positive towards being touched by their daughter’s than by their sons, while fathers were equally negative to being touched by both sons and daughters. According to Brilleslijper-Kater and Baartman (2000) most parents do not discuss sexual topics with young children until the child puts a question to them on the subject, and then the discussion most often concerns genital differences, pregnancy, and birth. Larsson, Svedin, and Friedrich (2000) compared Swedish and American parental reports on child sexual behavior in 3- to 6-year-olds and found a probable cultural difference where Swedish children were described to show more behaviors related to sexuality and nakedness.

Studies of parental reports have made a significant contribution to identifying which sexual behaviors children are most commonly exhibiting and which are less commonly observed (Ryan, 2000). Collaborative data observations of child behavior by both parents and teachers are recommended by, for instance, Hewitt and Friedrich (1991) because these can enhance the validity and ecological soundness of the study of child sexual behavior.

Results from a study of child sexual behavior in 2- to 6-year-olds at daycare centers in Sweden (Lindblad, Gustafsson, Larsson, & Lundin, 1995) document a wide range of sexual behaviors but also present a picture of relatively moderate overt activities. Lloyd Davies, Glaser, and Kossoff (2000) have presented similar results in a British study. Phipps-Yonas, Yonas, Turner, and Kauper (1993) studied the attitudes of family daycare providers and observations of child sexual behavior made by these providers. They discovered that although young children demonstrated interest and curiosity in sexual matters, their care providers believed that sexual activities in young children should be carefully monitored and controlled.

Large proportions of preschool children in contemporary western societies spend some of their waking hours in structured peer group settings. While parents still are the core caregivers to young children, daycare teachers may, however, in some cases spend more daytime hours with children than do children’s parents or siblings (Harvey Arnold, McWilliams, & Harvey Arnold, 1998). The quality of children’s daycare experiences appears important to their development. Teachers are supposedly more likely to be neutral or objective observers because of their lower emotional investment in the children, compared to parents. The young child is thus embedded in his or her social environment (Hewitt & Friedrich, 1991), where not only family context and attitudes influence the child’s learning and behavior but also the surrounding society.

The authors know of no previous effort to compare preschoolers’ sexual behavior in the home with sexual behavior at daycare centers. The present study was therefore designed to compare the range and frequency of sexual behavior in preschoolers, 3 years to 6 years of age, through observations done by parents and teachers. The study also aimed at investigating the correlation between general behavior problems and sexual behavior, both at home and in daycare settings, and to describe parental and staff opinions concerning child sexual behavior.