NCJ Number
141104
Date Published
1993
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Two groups totaling 118 incestuous fathers were compared with 116 closely matched control fathers to test the hypothesis that biosocial mechanisms exist to inhibit incest in humans and are potentiated by early caregiving by the father to the daughter.
Abstract
Variables considered in the analysis were severe abuse by the father's father or mother, rejection or neglect by a parent, childhood sexual victimization, sex offenses as a youth, low empathy and high emotional stability, marital dissatisfaction, and paternal absence during each of the daughter's first 4 years of life. Caretaking was measured by means of a 55-item scale measuring fathering activities. Results revealed that low involvement in caretaking is a risk factor for incest, even when controlling for other predisposing conditions. However, findings also indicated that caretaking has its effect by enhancing general parental feelings and capabilities and not, as proposed in the original theory, by inhibiting sexual interest in the daughter. Nevertheless, the strength of the findings was relatively modest, and caretaking was not an overriding protection, in that one-fifth of the highest caretaking fathers still committed incest. Further research is recommended. Tables and 31 references