Citation

Figueredo AJ, Sales BD, Russell KP, Becker JV, Kaplan M. Behav. Sci. Law 2000; 18(2-3): 309-329.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85712, USA. ajf@u.arizona.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/1099-0798(200003/06)18:2/3<309::AID-BSL394>3.0.CO;2-5

PMID

10874291

Abstract

A Brunswikian Evolutionary-Developmental model was developed to relate the sex offending behavior of adolescents to other forms of social deviance, tracing a history of repeated frustration and failure in various competitive sexual strategies and escalation to more extreme means of obtaining sexual gratification. Four hypothetical constructs were proposed as stages in the development of sexual criminality: (1) Psycho-Social Deficiency (PSD); (2) Non-Criminal Sexuality (NCS); (3) Non-Sexual Criminality (NSC); and (4) Sexual Criminality (SC). Significant direct and indirect pathways led from PSD to SC through both NCS and NSC, each time facilitated by an interaction with PSD. Although the causal orders between stages remain equivocal, the current results are consistent with our theory and establish the heuristic value of our theoretical approach, providing empirical support for otherwise counterintuitive predictions. This interpretation also offers hope for focusing preventative intervention at one major root cause of this unfortunate cascade of consequences, Psycho-Social Deficiency.

Language: en