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Becker (1990) has suggested that whilst a proportion of adolescent perpetrators have deviant sexual arousal patterns which form the basis of their abusive behaviour, others may act out sexually within a pattern of general antisocial behaviour. She cites the example of a group of adolescent boys who commit a robbery and when they find a women in the house, they rape her. A number of studies provide evidence to support the position that sexually offending behaviour is set within a pattern of antisocial, delinquent behaviour. Table 1.5 represents the percentage of perpetrators who, in addition to their sexual problems, display prior delinquent behaviour.

Table 1.5

Antisocial Behaviour of Adolescent Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse

Study Percentage of adolescent

perpetrators with prior behavioural problans Van Ness (1984) 86% Fehrenbach et al. 44% (1986) Becker et al. 29% (1987) Kavoussi et al. 67% (1988) Smith 55% (1988)

Studies which have focused on incarcerated, older and more violent offenders have found delinquency (often labelled conduct disorder, DSM-IV) to be more prevalent than in studies which have concentrated on clinical populations (Van Ness, 1984). Lewis et al. (1979) compared incarcerated sexual offenders with other violent offenders in a secure unit and concluded that there were few differences between the two groups in terms of psychiatric diagnosis and neuropsychological

assessment. Similarly Tarter, Hegedus, Alterman & Katz-Garris (1983) argue that sexual offenders did not differ from juvenile violent and non-violent offenders on a range of cognitive and neuropsychological measures, who were aU being assessed in a short-term residential setting. Both studies include populations which had predominantly committed violent rape and no mention was made about the history of sexual victimisation in any of the subjects.

The emphasis in these studies draws on similarities between sexual perpetrators and other juvenile delinquents, in line with Becker’s (1990) argument that delinquency is one pathway towards sexually offending behaviour. All of the studies presented in table 1.5, except for Van Ness (1984), focused on outpatient treatment services for sexual perpetrators and found a lower incidence of

delinquency than studies investigating incarcerated adolescent perpetrators. It is interesting to note that Kavoussi et al. (1988) found that 75% of a group of adolescents who raped adult women had a psychiatric diagnosis of conduct disorder, whilst only 38% of those involved in other sexually deviant behaviour met the same criteria. They conclude that conduct disorder may be a factor which leads adolescents to rape women and that, therefore, other factors may exist

for adolescents who engage in other inappropriate sexual behaviour.

In contrast to the evidence presented thus far Kempton & Forehand (1992) concluded that incarcerated adolescent sex offenders had fewer externalising and internalising problems than both violent offenders and non-violent offenders. Blaske, Borduin, Henggeler & Mann (1989) earlier work contradicts these findings by arguing that adolescent perpetrators show higher levels of internalising

problems compared to violent delinquents, non-violent delinquents and non­ delinquent peers. However both studies suggest that a proportion of sexual perpetrators are different from other delinquent populations in that they display lower externalising aggressive behaviour.

The discrepancy between the first argument that some sexual perpetrators are similar to other delinquents (Tarter et al., 1983; Lewis et al., 1979) and the second position that the symptomatology of some perpetrators is not explained through models of delinquency, once again supports the argument that adolescent perpetrators are a heterogeneous population. In the same way that experiences of sexual victimisation provide one pathway to perpetrating behaviour, it is evident that sexually abusive behaviour set within an overall pattern of delinquent

behaviour is an equally plausible pathway. Thus far there has been no attempt to develop a comprehensive classification system which identifies specific pathways to sexually offending behaviour.

in the profiles of adolescent perpetrators, the extent to which they differentiate between two ’types’ of perpetrator should not be overstated. For example it has been noted that male victims of abuse, who may become a perpetrator, may also show aggressive externalising behaviour in response to being sexually abused themselves. In this case it is problematic to ascertain whether the victimisation is a cause of the delinquent behaviour and furthermore which of the two factors are responsible for triggering the abusive behaviour.

In essence sexual victimisation and delinquent behaviour are two areas repeatedly identified in the histories of adolescent perpetrators and are important indicators which may provide a framework for understanding the genesis of offending behaviour (Becker, 1990). The causal relationship between victimisation and delinquency has yet to be established. Research into understanding the aetiology of sexually offending behaviour is in its infancy. There is an absence of evidence to support an explanation of the possible causal mechanisms, and much of what is known is based on small scale clinically based projects. Much of the descriptive material presented in the literature is based on clinical samples, and therefore subject to sample biases which are inherent in studies which do not include controlled comparison groups.

Having considered the impact of sexual victimisation and delinquency on the commission of sexual offences it is now intended to consider other evidence which may assist in understanding what causes adolescent boys to become perpetrators of sexual abuse. It is intended to review information about the characteristics of

adolescent perpetrators including demographic factors, family characteristics, cognitive ability and school performance, before focusing on the psychosocial functioning of this population as the central area of investigation in this thesis.