Self-blame, coping, perceived control and psychological symptoms in child sex offenders and batterers
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Mary T. Engelstatter (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- Caroline Clements
Abstract: Psychological variables associated with higher risk for abuse perpetration in known sex
offenders and batterers include emotional status, impaired coping, low self-blame and low
perceived control. Research suggests that these variables could contribute to high recidivism
rates seen in both populations. To date, not much information has been collected on abuse
perpetrators and whether they differ according to their crime. In this study, 49 child sex
offenders and 30 domestic batterers were assessed within one month of treatment contact.
Abusive behavior occurred chronically and frequently. There were no group differences on race,
marital or court ordered status. Sex offenders were older than batterers and age was used as the
covariate in further analyses. There were no group differences in the victims’ gender. Batterers
reported using more alcohol and reported a higher number of DUIs. Four multivariate analyses
of covariance (MANCOVAs) were run to assess emotional status, coping, self-blame and
perceived control. Sex offenders were more depressed and more anxious than batterers. They
reported more emotion-focused coping, self-distraction, denial and behavioral disengagement.
Sex offenders had higher perceived control over current abusive behavior than batterers. They
also scored higher than batterers in guilt feeling and external blame attribution measures.
Batterers reported significantly higher dysfunctional impulsivity. In this study, sex offenders
differed from batterers in variables predicting repeat offending in other studies. Greater
understanding of variables distinguishing abuse perpetrators may help in tailoring treatment
specific to offense type.
Self-blame, coping, perceived control and psychological symptoms in child sex offenders and batterers
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Created on 1/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Abusive men, Abusive men--Psychology, Sex offenders, Sex offenders--Psychology
- Subjects
- Abusive men
- Abusive men -- Psychology
- Sex offenders
- Sex offenders -- Psychology