Abstract
Grady, Levenson, and Bolder’s etiological framework contextualizes sexual offending behaviors through a trauma and attachment lens to suggest child abuse experiences (CAE) are associated with attachment problems that contribute to sexual offending. To empirically test a portion of this theory, this cross-sectional study employed a structural equation mediated-moderated model on a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth (N = 505) who committed sexual (n = 355) and non-sexual (n = 150) offenses. Results revealed a good model fit and statistically significant direct effects between maternal harsh and indifferent caregiving styles and insecure attachment. However, CEAs did not mediate the relationship between caregiving styles and insecure attachment. Results also revealed a moderation effect whereby youth who commit sexual crimes who report harsher and more indifferent maternal caregiving styles were more likely to have higher CAEs relative to youth who commit non-sexual crimes. Implications are discussed using a public health perspective of prevention.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 837-861 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research and Treatment |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2018.
Funding
The authors wish to acknowledge the mentorship and support from Dr. David Burton in the development of this article. We also acknowledge the Social Work Academic Criminality Collaboration mentors and collaborators, and express appreciation for the use of the data sets. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Keywords
- adverse childhood experiences
- attachment
- caregivers
- juvenile sex offenders
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
