The impact of a sex offender treatment programme on the attachment styles of incarcerated male sexual offenders

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test whether attachment styles change over the course of a sex offender-specific treatment programme for incarcerated adult male sex offenders. To measure attachment styles, 44 male sex offenders (treatment n = 26, waitlist n = 18) completed the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) and the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS). The results indicated that treatment participants showed significant decreases in levels of anxious attachment measures from pre- to post-test. Furthermore, the results from the RSQ 2-factor showed that participants in the treatment group demonstrated a significant decrease in avoidant attachment levels at post-test compared to the waitlist group. The results from the AAS showed that participants in the treatment group demonstrated a significant decrease in dependent attachment levels at post-test compared to the waitlist group. Implications of results are discussed.

Keywords:

• Sex offender
• treatment
• attachment styles

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Armfield-Reeves Innovation Fund and the Grants in Aid fund through Catholic University of America.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partially funded by the Armfield-Reeves Innovation Fund and the Grants in Aid fund through Catholic University of America.