NCJ Number
209137
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2005 Pages: 3-12
Date Published
January 2005
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study compared the personality characteristics of juvenile sex offenders with those of non-sex offending delinquent peers.
Abstract
While previous research has focused on uncovering the unique characteristics of sex offending youth, relatively little attention has focused on measuring psychopathological characteristics via standardized instruments among this population of offenders. The current study compared 18 juvenile sex offenders (JSO's) with 18 juvenile non-sex offenders on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent Version (MMPI-A), a self-report personality inventory used to detect the presence and patterns of psychopathology among adolescents. All participants were residing in a residential program for delinquent youth; the non-sex offending delinquent youth were matched to the JSO participants on age, primary DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis, and number of DSM-IV Axis I diagnoses. Results indicated that the mean score on the psychopathic deviant scale was within the clinically significant range for the non-sex offenders but not for the JSO's, although the difference between the two groups’ mean scores was not statistically significant. However, the chi-square analysis did reveal that significantly more non-sex offenders had scores in the clinical range on this measure than did the JSO's. The findings are consistent with previous research that has failed to find significant indicators of psychopathology among JSO's. The findings also suggest that there may be common etiological factors contributing to both delinquency and sexual offending, which holds important implications for treatment. Future research may compare JSO's in inpatient/residential settings with JSO's in outpatient/community settings. Table, references