Teacher Communication Strategies for Addressing Child Sexual Abuse: a Latent Profile Analysis

Teachers play a crucial role as educators for children, and there have been ongoing calls for their active engagement in initiatives focused on the prevention and/or disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA). The available studies, however, typically do not address the most beneficial CSA-related teacher communication strategies. The aim of this study was to examine how pupils perceive their teachers’ CSA-related communication strategies and to identify the most beneficial strategy profile using latent profile analysis (LPA). Profiles of teachers’ communication strategies were compared in terms of quality of pupil-teacher communication in the area of CSA, general support, CSA-related support, age, socioeconomic status (SES), teachers’ perceptions of pupils’ CSA severity and susceptibility, and pupils’ sense of teachers’ acceptance and rejection. In the study, 756 pupils (341 boys and 415 girls), aged 11–18 (M = 15.32, SD = 1.82), and 66 teachers (21 male and 45 female), aged 25–64 (M = 41.88, SD = 8.93) were surveyed. Results: Five distinct profiles were identified: moderate active mediation (n = 256); high active mediation (n = 222); high mediation (n = 109); minor active positive focused (n = 86), and no mediation (n = 41). The “high-active” profile was the most effective for mediation, characterized by younger teachers who provided extensive general and CSA-specific support, enhancing student support experiences. The findings offer deeper insights into the efficacy of teachers’ CSA-related communication strategies, presenting an opportunity for the development of more effective sex education programs aimed at CSA prevention in the future.