The Future of Research to End Sexual Violence: Applying an Integrated Social-Ecological Approach

The scientific study of interpersonal violence has grown remarkably over the past several decades and the editor of Journal of Interpersonal Violence for 40 years, Jon R. Conte has made an enduring contribution to this field. As the first president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, he contributed to the successes that have brought this crime to the attention of policy makers and planners, practitioners, and researchers. And yet he wondered, what is next for the field and how violence can be prevented. This paper celebrates Conte by suggesting even more work for everyone—to develop and implement a comprehensive social-ecological approach to help identify the true scope of the problem, clarify pathways to risk and resilience, work in collaboration to improve understanding of disclosure barriers and institutional response, and guide prevention efforts that are equal to the complexity of the phenomenon of child sexual abuse. Advancing this work will build on the legacy represented by Jon Conte’s leadership over the past four decades.