Suchergebnisse

The current study was designed to provide further information on characteristics of adolescent sexual offenders who have and have not experienced abuse. The subjects were approximately 300 adolescent offenders seen in a clinical treatment program. Abused and nonabused adolescent offenders were compared on a number of offense-specific variables and standardized instruments including the MMPI, Interpersonal Behavior Survey, Family Adaptation and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, and Self-Reported Delinquent Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that those offenders who were sexually abused had an earlier onset of their offending, had more victims, were likely to abuse both males and females, and tended to show more psychopathology and interpersonal problems, although no differences were found in terms of self-reported delinquent behavior or family functioning. The data are discussed in terms of their possible etiological significance and clinical implications.

To date, there has been limited literature on the measurement of sexual arousal in adolescent sex offenders. The data that exist have been somewhat mixed in terms of factors related to deviant sexual arousal in this group. The present study, with 71 adolescent sex offenders, investigates the relationship between offender and offense characteristics, including gender of victim, history of sexual abuse, history of physical abuse, race, and interactions between these factors in the prediction of physiologically measured sexual arousal to deviant and nondeviant stimulus categories. A number of variables significantly predicted sexual arousal. The most consistent predictors were gender of victim, race, the interaction of race and gender of victim, and to some extent the interaction of offender abuse history and gender of victim. Caucasian subjects tended to respond more than African American subjects did, and this has not been reported previously in the literature. The data are discussed in terms of consistency with other literature, suggesting that those juvenile offenders who target male victims and have been abused themselves may be a high risk group. Limitations of this study are also addressed.