Sexually Abusive Youth with Low Intellectual Functioning: Contemporary Risk Assessment Findings from MEGA^♪ Studies

ABSTRACT

Presented are the largest studies in the field of risk assessment of sexually abusive youths, of youth with low intellectual functioning of borderline or below average (n = 746 and n = 522). Youth were part of two major validation studies [1979–2017]: MEGA^♪ Combined Samples Studies (N = 3,901 and MEGA^♪ Combined Cross Validation Studies (N = 2,717). Samples were adjudicated and non-adjudicated (males, females, and transgender-female (Trans-MTF) sexually abusive youth, ages 4–19). The measure employed was the ecologically framed MEGA^♪ risk level assessment tool, with statistically weighted cutoff scores (i.e. normative data, calibrated risk levels grounded on given algorithms) according to age and gender. Presented are findings on descriptive characteristics and risk levels of youth in both samples who have low intellectual functioning of borderline or below average. Risk assessment tools for sexually abusive youth need to show sensitivity to developmental issues, gender, and intellectual functioning, with calibrated risk levels according to age and gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Low intellectual functioning
• sexually abusive youth
• risk assessment
• intellectual disabilities
• juvenile sex offenders
• adolescent sex offenders
• MEGA^♪

Compliance with Ethical Standards

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Coarse sexual improprieties are sexually vulgar comments, expressions, and behaviors evidencing an unsophisticated awareness of psychosexual conditions, or environments, or social situations whereby the youth engages in persistent, unrelenting sexual behaviors that are crude, indecent, and outside the societal norms of propriety in spite of intervention and preventative efforts. Examples: incessant crude sexual gestures and vulgar expressions, mooning, looking up skirts, a young child rubbing his or her genitals in public or trying to grab another’s genitals, a child looking over a stall in a public restroom. Although the aforementioned behaviors are often seen in young children, the benchmark for concern is the persistence of the behaviors in spite of interventions.

² Sexually abusive behaviors and improprieties fall along a coercion continuum of low, moderate, high, or very high (lethal) risk; this applies to sexually abusive youths who are either adjudicated or non-adjudicated (Miccio-Fonseca, 2010).

³ The musical note in MEGA^♪ is a copyright trademark of the tool.