title: Early parenting styles and sexual offending behavior: A comparative study.
abstract: Sexual offenders, in general, report problematic rearing practices from their parents, lacking however more empirical research on this topic regarding particular subtypes of offenders. The current study examined the relationship between early parenting styles and different types of sexual offending. A total of 113 sexual offenders (rapists, pedophilic and nonpedophilic child molesters), and 51 nonsexual offenders completed the EMBU (My Memories of Upbringing), the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Socially Desirable Response Set Measure. Results showed that rapists were less likely to remember their fathers as being emotionally warm compared with nonsexual offenders and pedophilic child molesters. In addition, compared with rapists, pedophilic offenders perceived their mothers as having been less emotionally warm to them. Overall, results showed that certain developmental experiences with parents were able to distinguish between subtypes of offenders supporting an association between distal interpersonal factors and sexual offending. These findings may have important implications for early intervention and prevention of sexual crimes. Further research using larger samples of pedophilic child molesters is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: vera.sigre.leiros@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sigre-Leirós
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Nobre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011902:Rape / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Distal factors; Early parenting styles; Pedophilic offenders; Sexual offenders; Sexual offending