Research
Good public health research is at the heart of making good policy.
— James A. Mercy, acting director of the Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse aims to generate original scholarly research to address gaps and advance knowledge needed to improve policy and practice related to the prevention of child sexual abuse. We also aim to help develop prevention expertise with support for student and faculty research.
Moore Center Research Projects
Our research develops and evaluates primary prevention interventions that will reduce child sexual abuse. Relatedly, we seek to improve our understanding of the costs, causes and consequences of child sexual abuse, as well as the policies that purport to address it.
Youth, Family and School-focused Prevention: Our primary prevention research targets populations who are most at-risk of perpetrating child sexual abuse (parents of young children, middle school age children and adolescents who have an unwanted attraction to younger children).
Cost, Causes and Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse: These projects examine the economic impact of child sexual abuse and how policies affect the mental health and well-being of juvenile sex offenders.
Policy Evaluations: These projects analyze the impacts of policies on recidivism rates, determine whether trafficking victims are better supported under Safe Harbor legislation and assess differences in how the juvenile justice system treats same-sex victim dyads.
Projects in Development
- Risk Reduction Therapy with Adolescents: a family-based intervention designed to address substance use and risky sexual behaviors
- Analysis of the Danish registry data to identify risk and promotive factors associated with perpetration of child sexual abuse