Eating Disordered Behaviors and Body Disapproval in Adolescent Males Adjudicated for Sexual and Nonsexual Crimes

Abstract

Using a large sample of adjudicated delinquent male youth (N = 696), we compared data from youth who had been adjudicated for sexually aggressive crimes and those who had been adjudicated for nonsexual offenses on eating dysfunction, body disapproval, history of sexual abuse, and pornography exposure. The sample included 526 (75.8%) youth adjudicated for sexual offenses and 170 (24.4%) youth adjudicated for nonsexual crimes. The average age of the sample was 16.8 years (SD = 1.6), and approximately half of the sample (47.7%, n = 310) self-identified as White. The results of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that sexually aggressive youth scored significantly higher than nonsexually offending youth on both eating dysfunction and body disapproval measures. Pornography exposure and substance use predicted body disapproval and eating dysfunction in the entire sample of adjudicated youth. History of sexual abuse was a significant predictor of body disapproval in all adjudicated youth but was not a significant predictor of eating dysfunction. Implications for research and practice are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• MACI
• OLS regression
• pornography
• sex offenders
• sexual abuse
• substance use

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer E. O’Brien

Jennifer O’Brien, MSW, is a PhD student at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current research interests include sexual violence among adolescents and young adults. She received her MSW from Smith College School for Social Work.

Wen Li

Wen Li, MSW, is a PhD candidate at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current research interests include sexual violence and Internet use among American university students. She received her MSW from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

David L. Burton

David Burton, PhD, is an assistant professor emeritus at Smith College School for Social Work. His research focuses on psychosocial treatments and interventions for adolescent male sexual offenders.