Objective: There has been increasing theory and research looking at the schemas of sexual offenders, with a suggestion that, offence supportive attitudes may be the product of an individual's underlying schemas. As such, schemas, rather than offence supportive attitudes may represent a more appropriate treatment need within this population. The investigation of schemas in sexual offenders is arguably still in its infancy and the investigation of sexual offending amongst men with severe mental illness generally, has been even more neglected. Therefore this research aimed to establish the relationship between offence supportive attitudes and schemas in mentally disordered male sexual offenders. Method: Men held within conditions of low, medium and high security under the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended by the 2007 Act) with a well documented history of sexual offending were invited to participate. Each participant was assessed using the Young Schema Questionnaire, the Questionnaire of Attitudes Consistent with Sex Offending and the Paulhus Deception Scales. Demographics and offence related information were also collected through semi-structured interviews and file reviews. Results: Correlational analyses were used to investigate the relationships between the schemas and offence supportive attitudes. 'Insufficient Self-ControI/Self-Discipline', 'Entitlement' and 'Enmeshment' arose as the schemas associated with most offence supportive attitudes. Similarly 'Homosexual Assault', 'Rape and Attitudes to Women', and 'Offences Against Children' arose as the offence supportive attitudes related to the most schemas. 3 .• ~ ••............................. Conclusions: These findings suggest a relationship between particular schemas and offence supportive attitudes in mentally disordered sexual offenders. Whilst they also add weight to the argument that offence supportive attitudes may be the product of underlying schemas within this population, this study was unable to assess causality. The findings are discussed· in relation to the literature and the implications for the treatment of mentally disordered sexual offenders considered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:583363 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Szlachcic, Rebecca |
| Publisher | University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0026 seconds