Sexual Grooming in the Boy Scouts of America

Research has shown child sexual abuse (CSA) within youth-serving organizations (YSOs) often went undetected for decades, which may in part be due to the use of sexual grooming behaviors. One such YSO is the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), with nearly 100,000 individuals alleging CSA within this organization. This study aimed to describe the characteristics of CSA within the BSA and the presence of sexual grooming behaviors as described by the Sexual Grooming Model. Files (n = 156) were coded from a public database of volunteers who were expelled from BSA due to suspicions of CSA from the 1960s through 1990s. Results provided an overview of who perpetrated and experienced CSA, as well as characteristics of the abuse itself. There was evidence of sexual grooming in many cases; behaviors related to gaining access to and isolating the child were most common, followed by tactics used to develop trust and desensitize the child. These findings are discussed as they pertain to the identification and prevention of CSA, including the importance of providing training informed by sexual grooming that may occur in YSOs, screening and monitoring individuals seeking placements in YSOs, establishing procedures that limit alone time with children, and policies prohibiting volunteer's involvement in the changing and bathing of minors.