Profiles of the Parents of Adolescent CSA Perpetrators Attending a Voluntary Outpatient Treatment Programme in Ireland

• NCJ Number: 199955
• Journal: Child Abuse Review Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2003 Pages: 5-24
• Author(s): Yvonne Duane; Alan Carr; Joan Cherry; Kieran McGrath; Deirdre O'Shea
• Date Published: January 2003
• Length: 20 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study aimed to expand knowledge about the characteristics of families of adolescent perpetrators of child sexual abuse (CSA) by comparing a group of parents (n=22) of adolescent sexual offenders (PASO), a clinical control group (CC) of parents of non-offending adolescents receiving mental health services (n=10), and a normal control group (NC) of parents (n=19) of non-offending adolescents in the community.

Abstract

These groups were compared on demographic, developmental, personal adjustment, and family environment variables. The research instruments included the General Health Questionnaire-12, the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory, the Child Behaviour Checklist, the Family Assessment Device, the Parent Satisfaction Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Compared with the CC and NC groups, more parents in the PASO group reported that they had been arrested or charged for a criminal offense; had personally experienced child abuse; and more of their adolescent children had experienced child abuse, with emotional abuse being the most common form of abuse for both parents and adolescents. Also, compared with CC and NC groups, more adolescents of parents in the PASO group had witnessed parental drug or alcohol abuse and had been placed in care outside their homes. Although parents in the PASO group did not differ from clinical or normal controls in terms of personal adjustment, their adolescents had significantly more internalizing behavior problems than normal controls; adolescents of parents in the CC group had significantly more externalizing behaviour problems than normal controls. Compared with normal controls, parents in both the PASO and CC groups reported more difficulties with general family functioning, roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, and behavior control and lower levels of parental satisfaction. The groups did not differ significantly in their levels of perceived social support, however. 8 tables and 40 references