What Drives Problematic Sexual Behavior in Kids

What Drives Problematic Sexual Behavior in Kids

From One in Ten by National Children's Alliance

February 19, 2026 · 40 min · Season 8 · Episode 4

About this episode

The episode discusses the motivations behind problematic sexual behavior in children and youth with insights from Dr. Brian Allen.

In this episode of One in Ten, host Teresa Huizar welcomes Dr. Brian Allen, professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Penn State, to discuss what motivates problematic sexual behavior (PSB) in children and youth and what the research shows. Allen explains his path into the field and why he conducted a meta-analysis—combining results across studies to create a much larger dataset (about 9,000 children) and examine the strength of associations across age, gender, and different risk factors. ...

People in this episode

Host: Teresa Huizar

Guest: Dr. Brian Allen

Topics covered

  • problematic sexual behavior
  • children
  • youth
  • research
  • meta-analysis
  • risk factors

Keywords

  • problematic sexual behavior
  • children
  • youth
  • meta-analysis
  • risk factors
  • research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Penn State

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