Coaches and league leaders are often the adults young athletes trust most. This project asks what helps them prevent child sexual abuse and respond when it happens.
At a glance
Question
Can a prevention education program for coaches and league leaders reduce child sexual abuse in youth sport?
Partners
Stop it Now! & Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Funder
CDC
Timeline
2022-2027
Why it matters
Youth sport puts children in close, trusted relationships with adults. While many athletes will never experience abuse within the context of their sport, participation in organized sports does present inherent risks for abuse. For example, youth in sports tend to:
Spend extensive time with coaching staff — think multiple practices per week or overnight travel for away games;
View their coach and staff as authorities and want to please them;
Accept physical contact from coaches, for example correcting form or adjusting padding as the norm;
Form deep, trusting relationships with coaching staff.
What we’re doing
Starting with an advisory board of coaches, parents, and league leaders, we drafted a plan for implementing and testing prevention education in youth sports. With an initial focus on football, we began with a pilot study of youth football coaches and league leaders to test how to measure child sexual abuse knowledge, confidence, and prevention and response behaviors. A survey of former youth football players followed. We then transitioned to study youth sports more broadly. In collaboration with Boys and Girls Clubs of America, we’re conducting a randomized control trial (RCT) of the Circles of Safety(R) prevention education program created by Stop it Now!
What we’ve learned so far
Abuse in youth football is common. In a survey of 126 adults who played youth football, 96% reported at least one form of abuse in the sport: psychological (92%), physical (76%), neglect (52%), and sexual (34%).
Coaches and teammates both cause harm. Former players named an adult in a position of authority, such as a coach or trainer (87%), and another athlete (85%) at similar rates, so prevention has to address both adults and peers.
Most athletes never told anyone. None of the 78 former players punished with excessive exercise reported it, and fewer than half reported even the most severe physical experiences.
High school is a key window. 81% of former players who reported when abuse happened said it happened in high school.
Involving the community shapes better research. An advisory board of youth football coaches, parents, and league leaders helped develop the research questions, refine the measures, and interpret the findings.
Papers from this project
Prog Community Health Partnersh, 2026
Engaging the national youth football community in a child sexual abuse research advisory board
One-line finding.
J Child Sex Abuse, 2026
Child sexual abuse prevention and response behaviors among a sample of youth football coaches
One-line finding.
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1U01CE003741-01-00; PI Bright). The opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the authors; They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the funding organizations or their members.
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