Grossi, L., Lee, A., Schuler, A., Ryan, J. & Prentky, R. (2016). Sexualized behaviors in cohorts of children in the child welfare system. Child Abuse & Neglect, 52, 49-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.12.014
Among children in child welfare with a history of problematic sexualized behaviour, normative sexual behaviours increased with age as expected. Several problematic behaviours were common and similar across all age groups for both boys and girls. Sexual perpetration was lowest in middle childhood and higher in both younger and older children, a pattern the authors relate to how children tend to hide sexual behaviour as they get older and how such behaviour gets reported.