The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and juvenile sexual offending: Victim to victimizer? /
Year: 1997
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Numerous authors have proposed etiological theories o f youthful sexual offending suggesting that perpetrators' own victimization has a causative role in subsequent offending.The purpose of the current study was to provide empirical information regarding sexual victimization rates in comparison groups of delinquent adolescents, and to describe the relationship between a history of sexual victimization and subsequent criminality.The present investigation also explored the characteristics and impact of sexual involvement with older individuals that was not labeled abusive by participants.Subjects were 427 incarcerated adolescents, of whom 99 reported criminal histories that included only sexual offenses, 190 reported both sexual-and non-sexual offenses, and 138 reported only non-sexual offenses.Results indicated that adolescents with at least one sexual offense were almost nine times more likely to report a history of sexual victimization than "pure" non-sexual offenders, and that a history of sexual victimization was associated with earlier developmental onset of sexual offending, selection of more male victims, and a more intrusive style of sexual offending.However, characteristics of adolescents' own sexual victimization (e.g., age at onset, duration) were unrelated to their subsequent sexual offense characteristics.Findings also highlighted a higher likelihood of victimization by female offenders than expected, frequent reports of sexual involvement with older individuals that were labeled non-abusive by participants, and frequent reports of sexual victimization by youthful offenders.Results are discussed in terms of etiological significance and clinical implications, and future direction for research are outlined.
Author: Daniel R. Hilliker
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2886174494