Attachment Style, Intimacy Deficits, and Sexual Offending (From Sex Offender: New Insights, Treatment Innovations and Legal Developments, Volume II, P 2-1 to 2-14, 1997, Barbara K. Schwartz and Henry R. Cellini, eds. - See NCJ-167745)

• NCJ Number: 167746
• Author(s): T Ward; S M Hudson; J McCormack
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Civic Research Institute, Inc
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Deficits in the ability of sex offenders to form intimate relationships are examined, with emphasis on an attachment model as a theoretical framework for understanding this issue and the direct and indirect empirical support for the model.

Abstract

Several researchers have consistently observed that sex offenders are often socially isolated, lonely individuals who appear to have few intimate relationships. Sex offenders with numerous social contacts paradoxically described these relationships as superficial and lacking intimacy. The attachment model presented here provides a detailed account of how, in conjunction with other factors such as disinhibition, intimacy deficits may lead to a sex offense. The model suggests that different attachment styles are a result of different internal working models, which develop as a result of cumulative interpersonal experiences. These internal working models are associated with very different emotions and interpersonal beliefs, goals, and strategies. The model suggests that the assessment of each offender's attachment style and the associated interpersonal goals and strategies can better inform the process and delivery of treatment. The specific relationship style must be understood for specific relationship or social skills interventions to be as effective as possible. Table and 57 references