NCJ Number
123484
Date Published
1989
Length
13 pages
Annotation
After explaining five causal models for incest, this paper lists causative factors in incest as determined from the literature.
Abstract
The incest family typology (Noel Larson) identifies three types of relational exchange processes and an expression-of-rage process that determine the occurrence of incest. The vulnerability model (Trepper and Barrett) defines an equation of vulnerability rather than identifying an underlying cause for incestuous behavior. Another model focuses on the fixated versus the regressed offender (Nick Groth). The fixated offender develops a primary or exclusive attraction to children, such that the cause of incest is the offender's sexual preference. The regressed offender responds to the stress of adulthood with a sexual response to children. A model with four preconditions of sexual abuse (Finklehor) organizes the many factors that might lead to incest, using a general systems perspective. The four preconditions involve motivation, internal inhibitors, external inhibitors, and the child's resistance. A developmental model that focuses on violent intimacy (Bremer and Ellis) defines a general developmental process as the base of sexually abusive behavior. Causative factors from the literature encompass individual variables, family variables, environmental variables, and cultural variables. 16 references.