Child sexual grooming: Listening to victims in Jordan

Background

Little is known about sexual grooming among children in Arab-Islamic countries. Accessing victims of child sexual abuse in such a context is challenging; however, qualitative secondary analysis provides a framework for exploring this phenomenon.

Objective

This study employed qualitative secondary analysis to identify sexual grooming behavior and strategies based on the statements made by Jordanian children.

Participants and setting

The primary dataset comprised 13 verbatim transcripts of forensic investigative statements of child victims aged 6–18 years with an Arabic Islamic background. These statements were obtained from the Family Protection Department of Amman, Jordan.

Methods

The statements were translated from Arabic to English and subjected to independent inductive thematic analysis and deductive analysis using the 2020 Sexual Grooming Model developed by Winters, Jeglic, and Kaylor as a framework.

Results

Four stages of child sexual grooming, each with specific goals and strategies, were identified and contextualized using the model. However, specific, nuanced differences between the findings and the model were identified, highlighting the influence of Arab culture and Islamic religious interpretations on grooming in Jordan.

Conclusions

Educational efforts should be undertaken to raise awareness among parents and children regarding grooming strategies and, specifically, how Arab culture and Islamic principles may be used to coerce children to comply with grooming and abuse or otherwise compel their silence out of fear of punishment.