Profiling sexual offenders in sport based on a victim survey
Based on the reports of 578 Flemish and Dutch athletes, the current article reports on perpetrator characteristics of childhood sexual violence in sport. Using retrospective web survey design, information was gathered about the number as well as individual descriptive characteristics (sex, age, and role in the sport organization) of sexual perpetrators as retrospectively reported by the victim-respondents. This information was then clustered to provide an overview of the most common perpetrator profiles. Perpetrators are predominantly male peer athletes or other known persons in the sport organization, and not the coach. However, acts of sexual violence committed by a coach are significantly more severe than those committed by peer athletes. The presented findings shed new light on sexual offenders in sport, nuancing the predominant belief that the male coach as the main perpetrator while providing nuanced information that can be utilized to improve child protection and safeguarding initiatives in sport.