Term Paper on "Sex Offenders Child Molesters Predators"

Term Paper 15 pages (4769 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

marked increase in the number of children victimized by child molesters. The advent and popularity of the internet has spawned a new breed of molesters that are preying upon children. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the type of individuals that molest children. The research will focus on several studies and observations that have been made concerning the nature of individuals that molest children.

Child Molesters

According to Taylor & Quayle (2003), sexual contact between adults and children has been documented throughout the course of written history (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). In some cases it appears that there are varying degrees of tolerance for such contact in some societies. The author asserts that the idea and child sexual abuse did not come into focus as a social issue until the 1980's when academic research began to surface (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). When molestation began to be characterized as a serious social issue many studies came about which examined the characteristics of child molesters (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). In addition, studies began to focus on the affect of molestation on victims. Through this research it was discovered that child molestation occurred quite often (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). One researcher even pointed out 'In every locale where it has been sought, researchers have demonstrated its existence at levels high enough to be detected through surveys of a few hundred adults in the general population (Taylor & Quayle, 2003, pg. 47)."

Although there has been a great deal of research done concerning the topic of child molesters in recent years, most of what is known about these individuals is taken from Freud.

Freud asserted that deviant sexual behaviors are caused by character disorders (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). Freud characterized these deviant behaviors as perversions. He also contended that such perversions occur because the object of the molester's sexual dire was diverted (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). Freud also believed that such a perversion usually arises in early childhood and these deviant behaviors are unchangeable in most cases. In addition Freud claimed the sexual abuse of children was frequently found 'among school children and child attendants' (14), and that sexual impulses were amongst those least controlled by 'the higher activities of the mind'...the 'untreatability' aspect of Freud's account has had a profound effect on attitudes toward treatment that has only been challenged within more recent years (Taylor & Quayle 2003, pg. 48)."

In addition to Freud, others have provided theories associated with explaining the mindset of sexual offenders. For instance, Fraser posited that unresolved oedipal strivings amongst male offenders caused them to become molesters. He believed that even when some males grow older they are still in love with their boyhood selves.

Fraser also tended to link the child abuse of children to homosexuality. This belief has proven faulty overtime because many offenders tend to abuse children of the opposite sex.

The author further explains that there exists another theory that has a great deal of influence within the context of the therapeutic community. This theory asserts that there is often an improper occurrence of events including behaviors, thoughts and feelings, allowing for the organization of behaviors that are deviant. This organization is formed as and result of various stimulus and response characteristics. With this theory as the foundation it is believed that children can be exposed to scenarios in which some premature arousal to stimuli occurs (Taylor & Quayle 2003). When this is united with improper masturbatory fantasies throughout adolescence deviant sexual behavior or molestation may be the end result (Taylor & Quayle 2003).

It appears that these inappropriate occurrences are questionable in and of themselves as opposed to being indicative of some additional primary dysfunction. This theory of why people tend to molest children is different from biological theories because they tend to emphasize the genetic, hormonal or neuropsychological causes associated with molestation. The author asserts that one study Bogaert (2001) evaluated the substantiation for increased instances of non-righthandedness in sex offenders as a measure of fundamental developmental or central nervous system abnormalities. "While such correlational studies are interesting, they do little to move us away from models emphasizing associations between a variety of biological factors and the emergence of behavior that is socially labeled as deviant (Taylor & Quayle 2003)." In other words, these types of studies often fail to ascertain what causes some individuals to molest children because developmental or central nervous system irregularities while others with these same irregularities are not affected in that way (Taylor & Quayle 2003).

In addition some accounts of sexual deviance are identified as paraphilias as per the classification system of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The diagnostic tool for this classification is DSM-IV. According to this diagnostic tool paraphillia is present when there are repeated and powerful sexual urges, fantasies or behaviors containing objects, children or nonconsenting adults, or torment or degradation (Taylor & Quayle 2003). Individuals that are diagnosed with paraphillia must have experienced the aforementioned symptoms for at least six months and the symptoms must also have an adverse affect on the individual's social life or work life. Pedophilia is a type of paraphillia, and is characterized by 'Sexuality and Gender Identity Disorders' (Taylor & Quayle 2003). Additionally the DSMIV classification makes a distinction between people who have a sexual attraction only to children and people who are also attracted to adults (Taylor & Quayle 2003).

The differences of opinion concerning the reasons why people molest children are evident (Seto et al., 2005). Each of the aforementioned theories associated with why individuals commit sexual offenses against children have been accepted to some extent; some have been accepted wholly while others have only experienced partial acceptance. The next section of the discussion will provide information associated with studies and observations that have been published over the past five years.

Child Molesters and heterosocial competence

In his meta-analysis Dreznick (2003) sought to focus on the relationship between child molesters and heterosocial competence of both rapists and child molesters. Heterosocial competence is the ability to function heterosexually. Various studies have found that many child molesters have poor heterosocial skills. Emmers-Sommer et al. (2004) explains heterosocial competence more clearly by defining it as the inability to initiate and sustain relationships with potential sexual partners can generate alternative outlets or outcomes that involve anti-social behaviors. A cornerstone of this argument is the assumption that sexual offenders, on average, lack social skills. Social skills involve two sets of inter-related processes: (a) ability to interpret the messages and situation correctly, and, (b) ability to generate the appropriate message within the context (Emmers-Sommer et al., 2004, pg. 1)."

To be included in the meta-analysis performed by Dreznick (2003) studies must have evaluated the heterosocial competence with behavioral or self-report measures (Dreznick, 2003). In addition the researcher also gathered effect size data addressing certain measures including fear of intimacy if the framework was related to a heterosexual relationship. Additionally studies had to include sex offenders as an aspect of its samples. However the offenders did not have to be convicted of a sexual offense (Dreznick, 2003). For example participants who reported being a part of physical activity that was sexually coercive would be labeled as rapists in the sample (Dreznick, 2003).

Additionally studies that could not be included in the meta-analysis were inclusive of those that found "no significant differences" amongst groups but failed to produce statistical proof of such an assertion (Dreznick, 2003).

For instance, in their study Spaccarelli, Bowden, Coatsworth, and Kim (1997) reported no significant differences amongst violent non-sex-offending, sexually aggressive, and less violent non-sex-offending delinquents in perceived heterosocial competence (Dreznick, 2003). However, the researchers failed to include key statistical information including standard deviations and means leading to misleading results. In addition some studies only provided statistical information that was partially sufficient, for these studies only certain measures could be utilized (Dreznick, 2003).

In the end there were a total of 14 published studies used to complete the meta-analysis. These published studies resulted in 119 effect sizes with responses from 5,295 participants (Dreznick, 2003). Each of these participants were adult males, with the exception of one study in which the participants were teenage males with the average age being 15. Samples where rapist were involved included both incarcerated and nonincarcerated men.

All samples where child molesters were participants were of incarcerated men. Though, in a number of the studies the child molesters had been chosen to go through treatment. In addition there were other studies that failed to specify whether the molestation was incestuous or nonfamilial or whether their victims were male or female (Dreznick, 2003). With this being the case, child molesters were sited in a single category.

The findings of the meta-analysis were consistent with the hypotheses of the researcher. The researcher found the following the studies reviewed in this article have consistently shown that child molesters have poorer heterosocial skills than either rapists, incarcerated non-sex-offenders, or nonoffenders. I predicted that child molesters would have less heterosocial competence than non-sex-offenders. This hypothesis… READ MORE

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