NCJ Number
135840
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1992) Pages: 8-23
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The moderate success of treatment for male offenders who commit child sexual abuse may result from the lack of a unified model of causation and treatment that includes the most important motivational factors unique to various subtypes of perpetrators and that is flexible without being unnecessarily complex or simplistic.
Abstract
Male sexual aggression against children is a serious and alarmingly common social problem, with 5 to 9 percent of males and 8 to 28 percent of females in nonclinical populations reporting sexual victimization during childhood. However, unified theories of etiology and treatment have developed slowly, if at all, possibly because of the uniqueness and complexity of the behavior and the heterogeneity of the perpetrators. A quadripartite model is proposed that includes physiological sexual arousal, cognitions that justify sexual aggression, negative affective states, and personality problems as motivational precursors that increase the probability of sexually aggressive behavior. The relative prominence of these precursors is used as a guideline for assessing and treating particular subtypes of perpetrators. The failure to consider the primary motivational precursor during the initial stages of treatment also may account for the limited success of current treatment. 37 references (Author abstract modified)