Sexual grooming of children: Review of literature and theoretical considerations

TLDR

A comprehensive understanding of sexual grooming is needed to support preventive child protection strategies. The review aims to outline current knowledge of sexual grooming, including problems of definition, terminology, and prevalence. The authors examine how prevailing child sexual abuse theories overlook grooming and provide a detailed review of existing literature. The review identifies three grooming types—self‑grooming, environmental/others grooming, and child grooming—proposes a new definition, and aligns these with existing sexual offence models.

Abstract

Abstract The current review aims to outline the existing understanding of sexual grooming. Issues of poor definition, the adoption of the term “grooming” and the prevalence of sexual grooming will be discussed. Consideration will be given to how prominent theories of child sexual abuse often neglect sexual grooming. This will be followed by a detailed account of the existing knowledge within the literature. Three types of sexual grooming were thus identified: self-grooming, grooming the environment and significant others and grooming the child. Based on these findings, a new definition of sexual grooming is suggested. Furthermore, the findings correspond well with current models of the sexual offence process. A more comprehensive understanding of sexual grooming is required to facilitate a preventative approach to child protection.