NCJ Number
153905
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1995) Pages: 25-44
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Structural equation modeling was used to test a theoretical model of the etiology of deviant sexual aggression by adolescents.
Abstract
The subjects were 117 juvenile male sexual offenders who had been referred from either criminal justice or social service agencies to a clinic that treated offenders. Each subject was interviewed by a psychologist using a structured clinical interview. This interview focused on demographic characteristics, sexual offense, and history of abuse. Subjects also completed a battery of paper-and-pencil tests that included the Adolescent Perception Survey, which measures how subjects feel about their family members and other people, as well as how they feel about sexual and nonsexual deviant behaviors. The interview and testing measured perceived parental deviance, physical abuse history, sexual abuse history, bonding to parents, and deviant sexual aggression score. The model as a whole fit the data well. Results show that physical abuse by the father and sexual abuse by males increased sexual aggression by adolescents. Also, children's bonding to their mother was found to decrease their sexual aggression. These results are explainable from a social learning perspective and from a parent-child attachment or social-control perspective, but the alternative perspectives of evolutionary psychology are also considered. Directions for future research are suggested. 4 tables, 2 figures, and 31 references