A qualitative study was conducted to explore the application of self-p
sychological principles in the treatment of adolescent sexual offender
s. A theoretical standpoint which straddled the opposing views of the
psyche offered by Mahler and Stern was adopted after a review of the d
evelopmental literature. With object relations and self-psychological
views on development in adolescence, a group of adjudicated and not-ad
judicated offenders was intensively interviewed. After qualitative ana
lysis, findings suggested substantial support for the self-psychologic
al view of treatment applied to this group. A number of additional fin
dings suggested directions for further research with this group.