NCJ Number
217773
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 43-54
Date Published
January 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study expands the study of juvenile sex offenders to include the investigation of emotional empathy (general concern for the well-being of others) and its developmental, personality, and behavioral correlates.
Abstract
As hypothesized, emotional empathy apparently has both mediating and moderating influences on the propensity of juvenile sex offenders to engage in nonsexual delinquency. Positive fathering and attachment to parents were associated with greater emotional empathy in juvenile sex offenders; and exposure to male-perpetrated physical and sexual abuse of females was linked to diminished emotional responsiveness. These findings support the theory that empathy is developmentally linked to secure parental attachments and children's experiencing of parents as caring and committed to their welfare in their formative years. Data were collected from 184 juvenile sex offenders who were recruited from multiple public and private institutional treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders across the United States. The sample was administered a social history questionnaire that provided data on developmental experiences before age 13, as well as the commission of acts of nonsexual aggression and delinquency in the year preceding residential placement. Developmental data included self-reports of maltreatment experiences (sexual and nonsexual), exposure to violence against females, and exposure to male-modeled antisocial behavior. Youth were also administered a battery of assessment instruments designed to measure the personality constructs of interest. 65 references