What Works for Children in Resisting Assaults?

Abstract

Although educators frequently try to teach children how to resist victimization, children's responses to actual threats and their perceptions of the effectiveness of those behaviors have not been systematically examined. In this national telephone survey, 1,011 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 16 were questioned about how they responded to threatened assaults. Boys, especially those in their teens, used more aggressive forms of resistance and felt those strategies had been more effective, relative to younger children and girls. Children advised by their fathers to stand up and fight also felt more successful using aggressive resistance. The findings from the present analysis suggest that different children may feel more successful with different protection strategies. As such, this argues against a unifaceted or “one size fits all” approach to victimization prevention. Prevention educators are encouraged to consider tailoring their messages to different subgroups of children.