Testing an Etiological Model for Male Juvenile Sexual Offending Against Females

SUMMARY

Research on the origin of sexual aggression has identified several important contributing factors: (a) early abuse (physical and sexual), (b) personality/behavioral traits (callousness and unemotionality, antisocial behavior/impulsivity, and hypersexuality), and (c) attitudinal/cognitive variables (negative masculinity, hostility toward women, misogynistic fantasies). We developed and tested an etiological model of sexual coercion on adult samples of sexual offenders and community controls. The model proposes three major causal pathways to sexual coercion. Using data gathered from a computerized interview, we employed this same model to predict sexually coercive behavior in a sample of 218 juvenile sexual offenders. The cross-sample consistency of the model provides support for a unified theory of sexual aggression against women.

KEYWORDS:

• Juvenile sexual offenders
• rape
• causal analysis
• sexual coercion
• path analysis
• sex offenders
• child abuse
• psychopathy