Cognitive distortions and blame attribution in sex offenders against adults and children

Objective: Sexual offenders tend to hold attitudes and beliefs which minimi ze and justify their offending behavior. It was hypothesized that distorted thinking supporting sexual offending and blame attribution would differ de pending on the offence characteristics of different groups of sexual offend ers. Method: Two groups of sexual offenders separated on the basis of the age of their victims (sex offenders against children, 36; sex offenders against a dults, 30) were compared on measures of cognitive distortions relating to s ex with children and rape and a measure of blame attribution which assesses external, mental element, and guilt feeling attributions. Results: Child sexual offenders endorsed more cognitive distortions relatin g to sex with children, but there were no group differences in cognitive di stortions relating to rape. Those who offended against adults reported more external attributions and child offenders reported more guilt feeling attr ibutions. Mental element attribution related to alcohol intoxication and us e of violence in the offence, but was not related to group differences. Conclusions: Results are interpreted as suggesting that child sex offenders support their offending by more enduring distorted cognitions, while those who offend against adults use blame attributions associated with the parti cular offence. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.