Childhood Sexual Abuse by Women of Boys Who Go On to Sexually Offend: Review and Critical Analysis.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Sexual offending perpetrated by women has historically been overlooked and understudied, and the potentially unique impact of that abuse is even more so. RECENT FINDINGS: Women who have sexually offended against children typically do so against older boys, use little or no forms of force or coercion during the abuse, and are unlikely to be prosecuted or sentenced following the abuse. Boys whom women have sexually abused are unlikely to report or disclose the abuse that they have experienced, perhaps because social structures surrounding sexual abuse of boys by women are designed to minimize, excuse, or even encourage such sexual contact. The intersection of these unique features may help understand the role of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by women in subsequent sexual offending among adult men. Men who have sexually offended experience high rates of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by women. The relationship between experienced sexual abuse and subsequent perpetration of sexual abuse is neither linear nor causal; however, the characteristics associated with this form of abuse, such as non-disclosure and lack of sentencing, may contribute to adulthood sexual maladjustment and vulnerability to offending among men.

Emotional Congruence with Children: An Empirical Examination of Different Models in Men with a History of Sexually Offending Against Children.

Emotional congruence with children (ECWC) is a psychologically meaningful risk factor for sexual offending against children (SOC). Based on previous research and theory, three models have been proposed to explain ECWC: Blockage, Sexual Domain, and Psychological Immaturity. Using structural equation modelling in a routine correctional sample of men adjudicated for sexual offences (n = 983), we found little support for all three of these models. Instead, we found that atypical sexual interests, alone, best explained ECWC, with a moderate relationship to ECWC. Using the predictors associated with each of the three models of ECWC, we identified three classes of men with a history of SOC who are high in ECWC using latent class analyses (n = 377). These three classes generally did not replicate the three models of ECWC. We instead propose three subgroups of men with histories of SOC who are high in ECWC, characterized respectively by: relationship deficits; youth and loneliness; and high sexual and general criminality. High levels of ECWC are predictive of a higher risk of sexual recidivism, regardless of class association; however, these subgroups are differentially at risk for some types of recidivism. Our findings suggest that ECWC is a multi-faceted construct, which is still not well understood.