Family and professional responses to children who have displayed sibling harmful sexual behaviours: A systematic review

Sexual abuse by sibling children has received relatively little research attention, and yet is believed to be at least as common and as harmful as other forms of child sexual abuse. Most previous research on children and young people who have harmful sexual behaviours with their siblings has focused on individual and family characteristics. There are significant gaps in the knowledge base on sibling sexual abuse, including family responses that support the child who harmed, professional decision-making, legal and therapeutic interventions, and the effectiveness of these, and longer-term outcomes for children who have received treatment.

A systematic literature review was undertaken to comprehensively and exhaustively locate and synthesise empirical research literature on family and professional responses to those children who had displayed sibling-harmful sexual behaviours.

This study used a systematic mixed studies review design, identify, critically appraise, and qualitatively synthesise findings from empirical research data. A mixed studies approach was used to ensure that data was selected from a diverse range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed study designs. A total of 28 studies were identified for inclusion across 3 electronic databases and from manual searches.

Findings from the included studies were thematically analysed and discussed within the context of broader research and practice literature. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are considered.