INTIMACY, LONELINESS, AND ATTACHMENT STYLE IN SEXUAL OFFENDERS

Recent research suggests that offenders have difficulties in successfu lly establishing adult relationships. The authors have developed an at tachment-bared model that relates offending styles and interpersonal g oals, and they have provided some preliminary evidence for it at the l evel of attachment style and offender type. Here the authors examined offender type, attachment style, and some relevant interpersonal varia bles. Although only the offender-type differences related to anger mos t of the attachment model's predictions were supported. Preoccupiedly and fearfully attached men were the most lonely, whereas fearfully and dismissingly attached men scored highest on fear of intimacy, anger e xpression, and anger suppression. Fearful men reported the greatest ho stility toward women, whereas dismissing men were most accepting of ra pe myths. The relationship between attachment style and social compete ncy issues appears more fundamental than that between offender type an d social competency. As such, approaching the social dysfunctions asso ciated with offending from an attachment perspective has considerable clinical utility.