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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 397-1 Filed 10/29/21 Page 2 of 43 Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23:957-976, 2014 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge ISSN: 1053-8712 print/1547-0679 online DOI: 10.1080/10538712.2014.960632 Taylor & Francis Group: The Construct of Grooming in Child Sexual Abuse: Conceptual and Measurement Issues NATALIE BENNETT and WILLIAM O’DONOHUE University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA There bave been claims that some child molesters engage in a “seduction stage” prior to committing abuse. These bebaviors, com- monly known as “grooming,” are understood as methods child molesters use to gain access to and prepare future victims to be com- pliant with abuse. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding exactly what this process entails and bow it is clearly distinguished from normal aduli-child interactions. It is important to devise an accurate definition of grooming for scientific, clinical, and forensic purposes. We critically evaluate the various definitions and reveal problematic beterogeneity. Furthermore, there are no methods of known psychometrics to validly assess grooming. We review tbe empirical literature regarding the occurrence of grooming and propose future directions for research. KEYWORDS grooming, child sexual abuse, measurement Understanding the process of child sexual abuse (CSA) is important for both its prevention and treatment. Some clinicians and researchers (e.g., Budin & Johnson, 1989; Burgess & Holmstrom, 1980; Conte, Wolf, & Smith, 1989, Elliott, Browne, & Kilcoyne, 1995) agree that a type of seduction stage, commonly called “grooming” but also variously known as “entrapment,” “engagement,” or “subjection” often precedes the actual sexual abuse. Offenders have admitted that they use techniques such as identifying a par- ticularly vulnerable child, gift giving, and sexual desensitization to prepare the child for the abuse (Seto, 2008). Understanding grooming has both important clinical and legal implica- tions. First, it is possible that if professionals were able to identify grooming Received 23 May 2013; revised 28 January 2014; accepted 10 April 2014. Address correspondence to William O’Donohue, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Mail Stop 298, Reno, NV 89557. E-mail: wto@unr.edu 957 DOJ-OGR-00005869