Unintended Consequences: How Parenting Behaviors Can Impact Children’s Future Perpetration of Sexual Coercion.

This brief discusses the relationship between family-of-origin factors and future perpetration of sexual coercion. Research shows that children's experiences growing up, such as a negative interparental relationship quality and harsh or inconsistent parenting, can lead to feelings of entitlement, which means children believe they deserve special treatment. Feelings of entitlement were associated with a higher likelihood of perpetrating sexual coercion in a study of male college students. This brief discusses these findings and how practitioners can help parents create a positive foundation for their children to reduce future incidence of sexual coercion. (Author abstract)