Anxious Attachment, Social Isolation, and Indicators of Sex Drive and Compulsivity: Predictors of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetration in Adolescent Males?

It has been suggested that child sexual abuse is related to poor attachment to parents, which is associated with an inability to form intimate relationships. Seto and Lalumière indicated that there were too few studies of adolescent males to determine whether poor attachment was associated with perpetration. 

This study was designed to follow up on a previous study and further explored the association between insecure attachment to parents, social isolation, and interpersonal adequacy to child sexual abuse perpetration in adolescents. We compared two samples of adolescent males who had committed sexual offenses, those who committed offenses against children (n = 140) and those who committed offenses against peer or adults (n = 92), with a sample of similarly aged males in treatment for mental health or substance use issues (n = 93). Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and computer-administered questionnaire. 

We found an indirect association between anxious attachment and sexual offenses against child victims, which was accounted for by measures of social involvement and social isolation. These involvement and isolation measures also did not have a direct association with sexual offenses against child victims, in that their contribution was accounted for by a measure of Masculine Adequacy. This Masculine Adequacy, combined with decreased levels of Sexual Preoccupation and Hypersexuality and increased Sexual Compulsivity, was associated with commission of child sexual abuse. 

The interpersonal variables did not enter a model predicting sexual offending against peers/adults, which seemed solely associated with the interaction between Sexual Compulsivity and Hypersexuality.

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By:  Miner MH1, Swinburne Romine R2, Robinson BB2, Berg D2, Knight RA3

• 1University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA miner001@umn.edu.
• 2University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
• 3Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA. 
• Sex Abuse. 2016 Mar;28(2):132-53. doi: 10.1177/1079063214547585. Epub 2014 Aug 20.

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Paraphilic Interests: An Examination of Sex Differences in a Nonclinical Sample

Little research has been conducted to examine paraphilic sexual interests in nonclinical samples. The little that exists suggests that atypical sexual interests are more common in men than in women, but the reasons for this difference are unknown. 

In this study, we explored the prevalence of paraphilic interests in a nonclinical sample of men and women. We expected that men would report greater arousal (or less repulsion) toward various paraphilic acts than women. We also examined putative correlates of paraphilias in an attempt to explain the sex difference. 

In all, 305 men and 710 women completed an online survey assessing sexual experiences, sexual interests, as well as indicators of neurodevelopmental stress, sex drive, mating effort, impulsivity, masculinity/femininity, and socially desirable responding. 

As expected, significant sex differences were found, with men reporting significantly less repulsion (or more arousal) to the majority of paraphilic acts than women. Using mediation analysis, sex drive was the only correlate to significantly and fully mediate the sex difference in paraphilic interests. In other words, sex drive fully accounted for the sex difference in paraphilic interests. 

The implications of these findings for understanding the etiology of atypical sexual interests are discussed.

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By:  Dawson SJ1, Bannerman BA2, Lalumière ML3.

• 1Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
• 2University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
• 3University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada martin.lalumiere@uottawa.ca. 
• Sex Abuse. 2016 Feb;28(1):20-45. doi: 10.1177/1079063214525645. Epub 2014 Mar 14.

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