A total of 61 Head Start preschoolers (33 boys and 28 girls) in a Colorado community were involved in this study. Pretesting of the students occurred 1 week before program presentation. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three personal-safety training programs: one group taught by teachers (21), one group taught by parents (18), and a control group taught by teacher assistants in the classroom (22). Parents taught the program at home within a 1-week period. The school programs were presented in 30-minute sessions on 3 consecutive days. Controls were taught various safety skills related to fire prevention, pedestrian safety, poison safety, etc. with no mention of sexual abuse. Children were posttested on knowledge and skill gains. No significant differences were found between groups of children taught by teachers or parents, and children in both groups demonstrated greater knowledge about sexual abuse and higher levels of personal safety skills compared with controls. Knowledge and skill gains were maintained at the 2-month followup. No program-related increases in negative behaviors were reported by teachers nor were the treatment children perceived by their parents as more fearful subsequent to participation. These results suggest that parents are as effective as teachers in teaching skills in personal safety to preschool-age children and that the programs can be implemented safely and effectively both at home and at school. 2 tables, 21 references and French and Spanish summaries