Generational Substance Abuse among Male Sexual Offenders and Paraphilics

Abstract

This study examines three hypotheses: (1) there is an association of parental and offspring substance abuse for sex offenders and paraphilics; (2) there is a higher occurrence of substance abuse among the parents of sex offenders and paraphilics than seen in the general population; (3) substance abuse among the parents will be associated with a higher frequency of birth and developmental abnormalities, learning disabilities (LD), mental retardation, attertion deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and school learning problems (school dropouts, grade failures, and placement in special education) common in sex offenders and paraphilics. A sample of 1,012 male sex offenders and paraphilics were asked about substance abuse among their parents and about their own birth and developmental abnormalities and school learning problems. Three in five families had a parent who was a substance abuser and there was a significant concordance of parental and offspring substance abuse. Substance abusing parents more often than nonabusing parents had sons with developmental and learning problems on every measure examined. Results suggest that parental substance abuse appears to play a role in the neurodevelopment, associated learning problems, and substance abuse reported in studies of sex offenders and paraphilics and it should be explored as a possible factor in the genesis of sexual disorders.

Keywords:

• ADHD
• substance abuse
• sex offender
• paraphilia
• learning disability
• mental retardation