NCJ Number
220375
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 12 Issue: Part 2 Dated: September 2007 Pages: 207-216
Date Published
September 2007
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This research study sought to validate a brief measure of self-esteem in sexual offenders, the Short Self-Esteem Scale (SSES).
Abstract
The results of this validation indicate that the Short Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) is a valid and reliable screening tool for self-esteem deficits in sexual offenders. The SSES has excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability and discriminates sexual offenders from non-offenders. Even though not an explicit aim of the program, it was also found that participation in a cognitive-behavioral treatment program impacts positively on self-esteem, for all offense types. Overall, the SSES has excellent psychometric properties and is a meaningful scale for use with this population of offenders. Self-esteem is a popular topic in psychological theory and research. However, its role in sexual offending has received little attention since 1994 when low self-esteem was identified as only a minor criminogenic target for treatment. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the SSES in order to establish its value for clinical use, and research with all types of sexual offenders. It also explored sensitivity to change of the measure. Found to be true in previous studies, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would increase following participation in treatment. The SSES was administered to 1,376 adult males serving a prison sentence for a sexual offense, and 40 nonoffending males. Tables, references