Studying Children's Sexuality from the Child's Perspective

Abstract

In an exploratory study on body awareness and experiences with physical intimacy from children's own perspective, 16 boys and 15 girls (age 8/9) were interviewed. Almost all children displayed a positive attitude towards intimate physical contact, especially cuddling. Half of the children didn't report experiences regarding sexuality or physical intimacy with peers, while one third displayed an active interest in these, had their own experiences and were able to reflect on those. A few children had a negative or ambivalent attitude towards physical intimacy. Data were also collected from one of the parents of each child. Parents presented a more positive and permissive view of the situation at home regarding physical intimacy than children did.

Key Words:

• Child sexuality
• sexual development
• parent-child interaction
• methodology