Citation

Baarsma ME, Boonmann C, 't Hart-Kerkhoffs LA, de Graaf H, Doreleijers TA, Vermeiren RR, Jansen LM. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 2016; 46(8): 2679-2691.

Affiliation

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. l.nauta@debascule.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10803-016-2805-6

PMID

27193182

Abstract

Juveniles who have committed a sexual offense (JSOs) are thought to have abnormal sexual development, as well as increased ASD symptoms. In the current study, sexual development and behavior, as well as stability of ASD-like symptoms were assessed in a sample of 44 male JSOs (mean age 24.7 ± 1.5 years) 8 years after their sexual offence. JSOs exhibited less knowledge of sexuality, less positive attitudes towards pornography and more often reported having been a victim of verbal sexual intimidation than a matched normal population sample. ASD symptoms were relatively stable over the 8 years follow-up, indicating that social difficulties in JSOs may be part of life-long autistic-like traits. However, ASD symptoms were not related to alterations in sexual development or behavior.

Language: en