A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF ADOLESCENT SEXUAL OFFENDERS IN AN IRISH COMMUNITY-BASED TREATMENT PROGRAM

In the present study a group of sexually abusive adolescents who had c ompleted a community based treatment programme were compared with a gr oup of non-offending peers matched for age, sex, and socio-economic st atus. Physical abuse, parental separation, and school related educatio nal and behavioural difficulties were more common in the histories of the sexually abusive adolescents than in the histories of their contro l group counterparts. Despite this, compared with the control group, t he sexually abusive adolescents were found to have the same level of p sychological and psychosocial functioning following treatment. This wa s interpreted tentatively as evidence for treatment effectiveness. How ever, not all cases responded to treatment. When the sexually abusive adolescents were classified by treatment staff as those at high and lo w risk for reoffending following treatment, high risk cases who failed to respond to treatment were found to have lower ability levels, lowe r levels of maternal and paternal care, and poorer levels of psycholog ical and psychosocial functioning.