This post was co-authored by Sophie King-Hill, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at the Health Services Management Centre, School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Sibling sexual behavior (SSB) is a common yet underrecognized form of harmful and/or problematic sexual behavior between children and young people. Despite the frequency with which it occurs, many practitioners lack the resources and training to address it. Sophie King-Hill, the co-author of this post, and colleagues at the University of Birmingham (UK) have developed a free resource, the Sibling Sexual Behavior Mapping Tool, for practitioners to guide conceptualization of these cases.

We define “siblings” broadly as children who self-identify as being from the same family, usually due to genetic relatedness or co-residence. This can include biological siblings, step-siblings, foster or adoptive siblings, or sometimes other family members like cousins. SSB is a distinctly different form of harmful or problematic sexual behavior due to the complexities that surround it, including that the children involved typically share a household and family context.

SSB appears to exist on a spectrum of behaviors that vary in severity. It does not just refer to penetrative acts but encompasses other behaviors such as forced pornography viewing, watching a........

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