Parents as Teachers: Mothers' Roles in Sexual Abuse Prevention Education in Gorgan, Iran

Parents play an important role in protecting their children from sexual abuse. Mothers, in particular, play key roles in the sexual socialization of their children and in educating their children about child sexual abuse (CSA).

The purpose of this study was to determine whether preschool girls in Gorgan (a city in northern Iran) could learn personal safety skills when taught by their mothers.

Fifty-six participants (mother-daughter pairs) were recruited from patients visiting health centers. Mean age of girls was 6.34 years.

Girls were pretested using Persian versions of the Personal Safety Questionnaire and 'What If' Situations Test, randomly assigned to either a mother-taught program or wait-list control, and post-tested. Mothers assigned to the education group participated in a two-hour workshop on preventing CSA and were given the Body Safety Training workbook to teach their daughters. Following the one-week training by their mothers, children in both groups were post-tested and follow-up tested one month later.

Children taught by their mothers demonstrated significant increases in knowledge about sexual abuse and higher levels of personal safety skills compared to controls, and these gains were maintained at the one-month follow-up.

Results suggest that mothers can effectively teach their young daughters personal safety skills. Difficulties female children have in recognizing appropriate-touch requests are discussed and compared to results in other developing countries. Advantages of home-based instruction for young children are described and suggestions for increasing parent participation are offered.