NCJ Number
223822
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior: An International Journal Volume: 35 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 1156-1173
Date Published
September 2008
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined issues related to intimacy among sexual offenders.
Abstract
The study found that all offenders reported lower intimacy with men compared with nonoffenders, but child molesters also reported lower intimacy with women than nonoffenders and rapists. It was noted that openness to adults was related to risk, with higher risk offenders having greater problems with intimacy than lower risk offenders. However, the authors did not find a relationship between low openness to women and high emotional congruence with children. This study explored male sexual offenders' openness and intimacy with both adult males and females. It was suggested that this study provided important information about the scale and relevancy of intimacy deficits in sexual offending. Two measures developed to examine intimacy with adults, Openness to Women (OPWO) and Openness to Men (OPM), were validated on sexual offenders undergoing cognitive-behavioral treatment in Her Majesty's Prison Service in the United Kingdom. Both measures had good reliability and validity, although they correlated with socially desirable responding. Data were derived from 2 separate samples of male sexual offenders, 1,857 in total, taken from different periods of history in the prison system studied. Both samples were used to explore the psychometric properties of the OPWO and OPM scales; however, the risk of reconviction for these samples was assessed using different tools. Tables, appendix A and B, references