Motivational pursuits in the context of human sexual relationships

The current article examines how close relationships combine with individual differences in sex motives (Cooper, Shapiro, & Powers, 1998) to shape sexual experience. We first provide an overview of the motivational approach as it relates to sexual behavior and then describe 2 broad mechanisms (1 transactional, the other interactional) by which motives and relational context combine to shape behavior. Drawing on our past research, we review evidence showing that people select relationship contexts based partly on their motives and that these contexts in turn shape future motives and behavior; that partner motives shape sexual experience above and beyond one's own motives; and that both the broader relationship context and partner motives moderate the effects of one's own motives on sexual experience. We conclude that the nature of motivational pursuits cannot be adequately understood in the abstract, but rather we must take into account the relational context in which one's needs are pursued.     

Classification of adult attachment: an integrative taxonomy from attachment and psychoanalytic theories.

Developmental and psychoanalytic theorists have focused increasingly on empirically determined early childhood antecedents of adult attachments, with several resulting taxonomic models. This article suggests a theoretically based and clinically based model of attachment consistent with both psychoanalytic and attachment theories, resulting in an integrative taxonomy of four adult attachment styles: dependent, avoidant, hostile, and resistant-ambivalent. These styles reflect behavioral manifestations of dependence and anger, as derived from the interaction of primitive relational drives, defenses, and interpersonal experience. In addition to theoretical construction, brief clinical examples are presented to facilitate discussion of the model.     

What we do and don't know about sex offenders' intimacy dispositions

Despite the significant role attributed to intimacy deficits in the etiology of sexual offending, current understanding of sex offenders' intimacy dispositions remains limited. The present article reviews the theoretical and empirical literature in order to better define the intimacy dispositions of sex offenders, and understand the role of intimacy in sexual offending. Research on sex offenders evidences a marked fear of intimacy and a low involvement in practices that can lead to intimacy, which suggests a poor inclination for the experience of intimacy. Moreover, scarce available data show that aspects of intimacy increase sex offenders' susceptibility to adopt sexually abusive behaviors. Although research has suggested that intimacy deficits contribute to sexual offending behaviors, no common operationalizable definition of intimacy has yet been put forth. Consequently, our understanding of the components of intimacy and their specific etiological role in interpersonal functioning and in sexual offending lacks theorization and evidence-based research. The present article proposes to answer the following question: what are the intimacy deficits in sex offenders identified in the scientific literature, and what is the role of these deficits in sexually offending behaviors?     

Developmental trajectories of childhood disruptive behaviors and adolescent delinquency: a six-site,cross-national study

This study used data from 6 sites and 3 countries to examine the developmental course of physical aggression in childhood and to analyze its linkage to violent and nonviolent offending outcomes in adolescence. The results indicate that among boys there is continuity in problem behavior from childhood to adolescence and that such continuity is especially acute when early problem behavior takes the form of physical aggression. Chronic physical aggression during the elementary school years specifically increases the risk for continued physical violence as well as other nonviolent forms of delinquency during adolescence. However, this conclusion is reserved primarily for boys, because the results indicate no clear linkage between childhood physical aggression and adolescent offending among female samples despite notable similarities across male and female samples in the developmental course of physical aggression in childhood.     

Attachment & violent offending: A meta-analysis

Attachment theory provides a useful framework for understanding violence as it acknowledges the importance of both interpersonal and developmental factors. The literature suggests that attachment is associated with violence, but the research evidence is equivocal as to whether insecure attachment was a risk factor for criminality, psychopathology more generally, or both. The current study therefore conducted a systematic review of the literature using meta-analytic methods. Results indicated that insecure attachment was strongly associated with all types of criminality (i.e. sexual offending, violent offending, non-violent offending, and domestic violence) even in the absence of psychopathology. Further sub-group analyses indicated differences in attachment patterns between sexual offenders and violent offenders, for example. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are made.     

Variables associated with the nature of sexual abuse to minors

This study analyzes the prevalence and characteristics of childhood and adolescence sexual abuse suffered by a sample of university students, as well as the variables associated with the nature of abuse. Participants anonymously completed the Questionnaire on Child Sexual Abuse, in order to obtain information about experience of sexual abuse. Of a total of 2,375 students, 289 (12.2%) declared having suffered sexual abuse before the age of 18. The invasiveness, continuity, and severity of abuse was related to the location where the abuse took place (the more severe cases were committed in the homes of the victim and perpetrator) and to the circumstances of abuse (relationships with partners/at a party or while caring for a child predicted more severe abuse). The age of the victim (preschool) and an intrafamilial relationship between victim and perpetrator were also related to more invasive, continuous, and severe sexual abuse. The knowledge of characteristics of perpetrator and victim and the context in which sexual abuse occurs can help to better comprehend the nature and correlates of sexual abuse. The results of the present study may contribute to the design of programs for the prevention of sexual abuse to minors.     

Adult attachment and sexual behavior

The relations between adult attachment processes and sexuality were examined in a community sample of 792 young adults (327 men and 465 women) from the Niagara region of Canada. Participants completed questionnaires that included Simpson’s (1990) measure of adult attachment, self‐reported physical attractiveness, erotophilia, and a variety of sexual behavior measures (e.g., number of sexual partners, age of first sexual experience, frequency of sexual behaviors in the past year, whether an affair had occurred in the past year, and consistent condom usage). The sexuality measures were factor analyzed to extract common factors. The results were modest, but a number of significant relationships between sexuality and attachment were observed. For example, people scoring higher on a secure attachment index perceived themselves as more physically attractive, whereas people scoring higher on an anxious attachment index perceived themselves as less physically attractive, had an early first intercourse (and more lifetime partners), more infidelity, and took more sexual precautions (e.g., condom usage). The results were generally stronger in women, with most of the attachment/sexuality associations in the full sample being driven by the results in women. Implications for understanding sexual variability, including high‐risk sexual behavior, are discussed.     

Childhood family and personological risk factors for sexual offending

Childhood family characteristics including poor parent–child bonding, parental neglect and deviance, discontinued parental care, physical and sexual abuse, and child personal characteristics including antisocial, hyperactive, and impulsive behavior, precocious sexual behavior, and social skill and empathy deficits are first reviewed as risk factors for sexual offending by men. The implications for sexual offender treatment with male sexual offenders are then discussed.     

Empathic deficits in sexual offenders: An integration of affective,social, and cognitive constructs

A number of researchers have suggested that lack of empathy is a critical feature in the assessment and treatment of sex offenders. However, difficulties with definitions of empathy and corresponding measures of that construct have led to limited and disparate empirical findings supporting this claim. Such findings may be due to a definition of empathy that fails to incorporate other key factors related to sexual offending. Factors such as inaccurate social perceptions, cognitive distortions, deficits in interpersonal intimacy, maladaptive emotional regulation abilities, and other socio-cognitive deficiencies thought to contribute to sexually assaultive behavior also share a number of core developmental features with affect and emotional responding. As socio-cognitive abilities tend to develop simultaneously at times as humans mature, it is suspected that social, cognitive, and affective skills impact one another's development and ultimately dictate the expression of empathy in adulthood. Accordingly, deficits in social skills, interpersonal intimacy, and cognitive processes necessary to emotional stability and appropriate social interaction may be critical to the development and expression of empathic deficits and subsequent efforts to treat or reduce such deficits in sexual offenders. This paper will review and integrate literature examining the relationship of various socio-cognitive factors to empathic deficits in sexual offenders.     

The analytic group: A multifaceted approach to the treatment of adolescents

During adolescence the peer group plays a major role in facilitating developmental processes, since it not only serves as a replacement for childhood love-objects and attachments, but offers the adolescent allies in the struggle to separate and become emancipated from parents. For those adolescents who, because of interpersonal and intrapsychic difficulties, have no peer group or have chosen an inappropriate peer group, providing a therapeutic group can make it possible for development to proceed. This paper presents not only a theoretical basis for the utilization of groups of peers in the treatment of adolescents, but also an elaboration on the dynamic processes which make possible improvement of ego-functioning and resolution of core conflicts related to the past, as well as to this particular developmental phase.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Revictimization In Adolescence and Adulthood

Abstract

Childhood sexual abuse must be seen as a pervasive risk factor in children's lives: No demographic or family characteristics have as yet been identified to rule out the possibility that a child will be or has been sexually abused (Finkelhor, 1993). The adverse consequences of sexual abuse, both immediate and long term, have been documented by a large body of research. After a summary of the main findings from this research, the main objective of the present chapter is to examine the impact of childhood sexual abuse on a particular aspect of psychological functioning: the development of sexual behavior and sexual relationships. In this analysis, special consideration is given to the question of whether individuals who were sexually abused as children are at greater risk of experiencing sexual victimization in later life than individuals without experience of abuse. This question has generated a substantial body of evidence (see Messman & Long, 1996, for a review), and researchers are beginning to understand pathways from the experience of abuse in childhood to revictimization in adolescence and adulthood.     

Antecedents of sexual and non-sexual aggression in young Singaporean men

This study investigated factors that have previously been implicated in male sexual aggression towards women, using a structural equation modelling approach to assess their relative influence on sexually coercive behaviours in young Singaporean men. Variables were classified under three major headings: childhood experience, personality, and attitudes facilitating violence. Non-sexual aggression against women was included in order to investigate its relationship to sexual aggression as well as its own causal antecedents. Results suggest that sexual and non-sexual aggression have different antecedents, and confirm the primacy of sexual variables (sexual experience, child sexual abuse) as antecedents to sexual aggression. Contrary to the hypothesis that sexual aggression is primarily aggressive in motivation, belligerence exerted only indirect effects on sexual aggression. Attitudinal variables (e.g. attitudes supportive of sexual aggression) contributed modestly to sexual but not to non-sexual aggression. Antisociality exerted indirect effects on both sexual aggression (via sexual experience and acceptance of interpersonal violence) and on non-sexual aggression (via belligerence). Parental violence contributed exclusively to non-sexual aggression. Finally, some cross-cultural differences in sexually coercive behaviour are highlighted.     

The role of pornography in the etiology of sexual aggression

Despite the public and scientific attention the topic has received, the evidence for a causal link between pornography use and sexual offending remains equivocal. This article critically examines the research literature on the association of pornography and sexual offending, focusing on relevant experimental work. The difficulty of this research is highlighted in a discussion of operational definitions of the term pornography, the choice of proxy measures for sexual offending in experimental research, and the emphasis given sexual assault of adult females over other kinds of criminal sexual behavior such as child molestation, exhibitionism, and voyeurism. We also review the major theoretical perspectives conditioning, excitation transfer, feminist, and social learning—and some of the hypotheses that can be derived from them. From the existing evidence, we argue that individuals who are already predisposed to sexually offend are the most likely to show an effect of pornography exposure and are the most likely to show the strongest effects. Men who are not predisposed are unlikely to show an effect; if there actually is an effect, it is likely to be transient because these men would not normally seek violent pornography. Finally, we present a Darwinian perspective on the possible relationship between pornography use and sexual aggression.     

Romantic Emotional Attachment: Additional Factors in the Development of the Sexual Orientation of Men

This retrospective study compared reports of gay and heterosexual male college students about particular behaviors and feelings during childhood and adolescence. The results were interpreted as providing general support for Bell's heterogamy principle that regardless of a person's sexual orientation, his or her romantic attachments will be to people perceived different from themselves.     

Why Do People Hurt Themselves?: New Insights Into the Nature and Functions of Self-Injury

ABSTRACT— Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent but perplexing behavior problem in which people deliberately harm themselves without lethal intent. Research reveals that NSSI typically has its onset during early adolescence; most often involves cutting or carving the skin; and appears equally prevalent across sexes, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses. Less is known about why people engage in NSSI. This article presents a theoretical model of the development and maintenance of NSSI. Rather than a symptom of mental disorder, NSSI is conceptualized as a harmful behavior that can serve several intrapersonal (e.g., affect regulation) and interpersonal (e.g., help-seeking) functions. Risk of NSSI is increased by general factors that contribute to problems with affect regulation or interpersonal communication (e.g., childhood abuse) and by specific factors that influence the decision to use NSSI rather than some other behavior to serve these functions (e.g., social modeling). This model synthesizes research from several different areas of the literature and points toward several lines of research needed to further advance the understanding of why people hurt themselves.     

Child sexual abuse and adolescent prostitution: a comparative analysis

In several studies, child sexual abuse has been identified as a characteristic of adolescent prostitution. The implication of these findings, especially for girls, is that the two phenomena are related in that childhood sexual abuse perhaps leads to prostitution. The present study explored the relationship between sexual abuse and adolescent prostitution by comparing 70 sexually abused children with 35 prostitution-involved children on 22 variables. Findings suggest that the relationship is not directed, but involves runaway behavior as an intervening variable. It is not so much that sexual abuse leads to prostitution as it is that running away leads to prostitution. Implications for treatment of both sexually abused and prostitution-involved children also are discussed.     

Where Have All the Tomboys Gone? Women’s Accounts of Gender in Adolescence

This study was designed to investigate accounts of tomboyism cessation and continuation in adolescence in the narratives of a small sample of adult, working and lower-middle class, New Jersey-area lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women who identified as childhood tomboys. Study participants discussed several reasons for ceasing and continuing tomboyism in adolescence, including maturation, heterosexual interests, parental and peer pressures, athletic participation, and sexual desires for girls or women. Several participants questioned the tomboy label by highlighting discrepancies between behavior and identification. Women’s relationships to the varied gendered meanings referenced in the “tomboy” label, the salience of women’s adult sexualities in their narratives of gender in adolescence, and the dangers for scholars of presuming conformity and heterosexuality are discussed.     

“I can’t get no satisfaction”: Insecure attachment,inhibited sexual communication,and sexual dissatisfaction

An Internet survey was conducted to extend the investigation of attachment style to the domains of sexual communication and sexual satisfaction. We hypothesized that insecure attachment would be associated with sexual dissatisfaction, mediated by inhibited communication of sexual needs. Further, the association of attachment with inhibited communication was expected to be mediated by attachment‐related tendencies toward deference to partners’ needs, concern with the relationship implications of sexual choices, general anxiety regarding sex, and feelings for one’s partner. Somewhat different mediational pathways were predicted for each of the 2 dimensions of attachment insecurity: anxiety and avoidance. Respondents (N= 1,989, around half of them involved in a sexual relationship at the time of the study and half not involved but with previous sexual relationship experience) completed measures of attachment‐related anxiety and avoidance, neuroticism (a possible confound), and sexual communication and satisfaction. Results generally supported the hypotheses and provided additional evidence regarding the associations between attachment style, sexual communication, and sexual satisfaction.     

Women's aggression in heterosexual conflicts

Using a longitudinal design, prior experience with violence as a victim and opportunity to aggress were examined as predictors of college women's verbal and physical aggression toward romantic partners. Five additional categories of predictors identified in previous research (experienced and witnessed parental aggression during childhood, attitudes accepting of aggression, aggressive/impulsive personality attributes, psychopathology, and prior use of aggression) were also examined. Blockwise hierarchical regression analyses were performed to reveal the best predictors of verbal and physical aggression during the first year of college. Significant predictors of verbal aggression were prior use of verbal aggression in heterosexual conflicts during adolescence, witnessed parental aggression, level of adolescent sexual victimization, being a target of rational conflict strategies during adolescence, and use of physical aggression in romantic adolescent relationships, as well as self-reported verbal aggression as an index of personality, weak emotional ties, number of sexual partners, and approval of sexual intimacy in many types of relationships. Significant predictors of physical aggression were prior use of physical aggression during adolescence, witnessing and experiencing parental aggression, being a victim of physical aggression in adolescent romantic relationships, weak emotional ties, low levels of alcohol/drug use, and opportunity to aggress. A developmental model of aggression in which childhood experiences with family violence contribute to the likelihood of subsequent involvement in relationship violence seems appropriate. Past experience with aggression may be particularly important for women. Cultural expectations about women's roles do not provide the social support for female aggression that is provided for male aggression. Adolescent sexual victimizations and general involvement in conflictual relationships (as target and perpetrator) predicted subsequent verbal aggression, whereas experiencing family violence and sustaining physical aggression in romantic relationships predicted subsequent physical aggression. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.