Juvenile sex offenders: An object relations approach.

Abstract

Factors that contribute to sexual aggression among incarcerated juvenile sex offender were studied using object relational concepts and the ecological model developed by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 1979). Seventy-five adjudicated juvenile sex offenders and 53 adjudicated non-sexual offenders were recruited from a midwestern boy's training school. Subjects completed the Bell's Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (Bell, 1992), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein, Fink, Handelsman, Foote, Lovejoy, Wenzel, Sapareto and Ruggiero, 1994), the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (Millon, 1993), the Balance Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1984), and answered questions developed specifically for this project in an interview format. Juvenile sex offenders reported greater psychological dysfunction, poorer social functioning, more experience of childhood victimization, and more exposure to certain types of sexually explicit stimuli than did general delinquents. However, only the experience of childhood sexual abuse predicted subsequent sexual offending. There were also two unexpected findings in the present study. (1) Subjects were more candid in their reporting of childhood abuse when they completed a questionnaire than when they answered questions face-to-face in the interview. (2) Contrary to our hypothesis, more sex offenders who reported a history of sexual abuse stated that they had been verbally coerced or seduced into complying with the perpetrator, whereas more general delinquents who reported such a history stated that the perpetrator had used a weapon in order to force them into compliance. These unanticipated findings are discussed. Theoretical implications of the study, as well as recommendations for future research, are also considered.