Publication year: 2011
Source: Children and Youth Services Review, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 8 April 2011
Laura Allison, Zaremba , Margaret K., Keiley
Research has shown that adults who sexually offend frequently report perpetrating a sexual offense for the first time during childhood/adolescence; therefore in this preliminary study, we examine the possible covariates related to offending sexually in adolescents. For this study, 62 incarcerated adolescents at a correctional facility in Alabama completed self-report questionnaires regarding demographic information, internalizing/externalizing behavior problems, attachment, and affect regulation. The results of this study indicate that attachment is related to internalizing and externalizing behaviors, as well as, both adaptive affect regulation and maladaptive affect regulation. Through path analyses, this study was the first to test and find that…
Highlights: ►Male adolescent sexual offenders report numerous internalizing behavior problems ►Attachment is related to internalizing and externalizing behaviors ►Attachment is related to adaptive and maladaptive affect regulation ►Affect regulation mediates the effect of attachment on externalizing behavior