Anxious attachment, social isolation, and indicators of sex drive and compulsivity predictors of child sexual abuse perpetration in adolescent males?

Authors:
MINER Michael H., et al
Journal article citation:
Sexual Abuse a Journal of Research and Treatment, 28(2), 2016, pp.132-153.
Publisher:
Sage

It has been suggested that child sexual abuse is related to poor attachment to parents, which is associated with an inability to form intimate relationships. Seto and Lalumière indicated that there were too few studies of adolescent males to determine whether poor attachment was associated with perpetration. This study was designed to follow up on a previous study and further explored the association between insecure attachment to parents, social isolation, and interpersonal adequacy to child sexual abuse perpetration in adolescents. Two samples of adolescent males who had committed sexual offences were compared. Those who committed offences against children (n = 140) and those who committed offences against peer or adults (n = 92) were compared with a sample of similarly aged males in treatment for mental health or substance use issues (n = 93). Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and computer-administered questionnaire. The study found an indirect association between anxious attachment and sexual offences against child victims, which was accounted for by measures of social involvement and social isolation. These involvement and isolation measures also did not have a direct association with sexual offences against child victims, in that their contribution was accounted for by a measure of Masculine Adequacy. This Masculine Adequacy, combined with decreased levels of Sexual Preoccupation and Hypersexuality and increased Sexual Compulsivity, was associated with commission of child sexual abuse. The interpersonal variables did not enter a model predicting sexual offending against peers/adults, which seemed solely associated with the interaction between Sexual Compulsivity and Hypersexuality. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
young sex offenders, child sexual abuse, attachment, social isolation, parent-child relations, sexuality;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
United States
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
1573-286X
ISSN print:
1079-0632

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