Parental knowledge on the perpetrators and the impacts of child sexual abuse towards parental protection efforts to prevent children from being the victims of sexual abuse

Cases of sexual harassment and sexual abuse are believed to occur since children interact with other people or strangers who are not known before. In fact, the perpetrators of sexual abuse are the closest people who actually are in the environment around the children⁽¹⁾ Sexual abuse has a very large impact on early childhood, such as sexual trauma, stigmatization, rejection (neglect), and helplessness⁽²⁾. Cases of early child sexual abuse in Jember are caused by the low role of parents in providing protection to children. Thus, new parents find out about cases of sexual abuse experienced by children after the case is repeatedly experienced by children. This research aimed to analyze parental understanding of the perpetrators and the effects of sexual abuse on the role of parents in providing protection from the risk of child sexual abuse. It was carried out in Jemberby involving 170 parents as the research respondents. The results of the study showed that parental understanding of perpetrators of sexual abuse has significant effects on parental protection efforts that are applied in daily care. Comprehensive knowledge of perpetrators of sexual abuse, both from internal and external families, will increase the sensitivity of parents to prevent and protect against the risk of sexual abuse in early childhood.