Attachment style in sex offenders: A preliminary study

In the past few decades, a number of theories have been developed to further our understanding of the various aspects of sex offending. Recent work has been focused on the relationship between early interpersonal experiences and the presence of intimacy deficits in sex offenders. Marshall (1989, 1993, in press) developed an etiological model stressing the importance of insecure attachment and intimacy deficits in both the onset and maintenance of sex offending. In this article we used a reformulation of this model, using Bartholomew's attachment theory, to carry out a preliminary investigation of the nature of attachment relationships in sex offenders. The participants in this study included child molesters (55), rapists (30), violent non‐sex offenders (32), and non‐violent, non‐sex offenders (30). Their general romantic attachment style was assessed using Bartholomew's self‐report scales. Results indicated that the majority of sex offenders were insecurely attached. However, this was true for all four groups of incarcerated prisoners and therefore likely to be a general vulnerability factor rather than specific to sex offenders. There was also evidence that child molesters were more likely to have a preoccupied or fearful attachment style than were rapists and to be less dismissive. Rapists were indiscriminable in some respects from violent non‐sex offenders (i.e., both tended to be dismissive), and non‐violent non‐sex offenders were comparatively the most securely attached. These results need to be replicated with non‐incarcerated sex offenders and attachment styles related to other variables such as level of violence. From a clinical perspective, it is important to assess romantic attachment style, as treatment goals are likely to vary as a function of this factor.