NCJ Number
205360
Journal
Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2004 Pages: 11-16
Date Published
2004
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study compares the perceptions of family environment held by adolescent sexual offenders and nonviolent adolescent offenders.
Abstract
A total of 115 incarcerated juvenile males (69 sexual offenders and 46 nonviolent, nonsexual offenders) were administered the Family Environment Scale (FES). The FES is a self-report instrument that contains 90 true-false items that focus on the social/environmental characteristics of a family. The FES has 10 subscales that assess the domains of relationship, personal growth, and development and system. The study found that the adolescent sexual offenders rated their families as less cohesive, less expressive, and more conflicted than nonsexual offenders; however, only one of the subscales associated with the personal growth dimension, the independence subscale, showed a significant difference between the two groups of adolescents. Adolescent sexual offenders rated their families as showing less independence. These findings have a number of implications for interventions with families of juvenile sex offenders. Therapeutic goals for such interventions should include fostering improved communication among family members, enhancement of emotional awareness, enhancement of family members' ability to express emotions in a constructive manner, and enhancement of the family's ability to be sensitive to the feelings of others. In addition, when working with the family system, the results also suggest a need for the clinician to teach listening skills, assertiveness skills, and skills related to the expression of individual wants and needs in a constructive fashion. 1 table and 26 references