Despite social and legal consequences, child molesters engage in sexual activities
with children. Speculation as to why molesters choose children as their sexual partners
was examined from seven perspectives: psychodynamic, attachment, three mental
functions, psychopathic, physiological, learning, and third force theories. The potential
causal variables suggested by these theories were coded using information from the files
of 200 male adolescent and adult child molesters. Variables were analyzed using Ward's
minimum variance clustering technique to develop a psychological classification system
based on child molesters' motivations. Five-cluster solutions were discovered when
using either the adolescent or adult child molesters' samples. Clusters from the
adolescent sample were labeled: Stable (47%), Pedophilic (13%), Disturbed Conduct
(15%), Psychopathic Tendencies (10%), and Dysfunctional Families (15%). The clusters
from the adult sample were remarkably similar, yet there were differences. These
clusters were labeled Mentally Unstable (25%), Mentally Stable (40%), Brain
Damage/Head Injuries (14%), Psychopathic Tendencies (10%), and Dysfunctional
Families (11%). Using a split-half test, four of the five clusters for both samples appear
to be stable. Only the clusters based on psychiatric diagnoses of pedophilia were
unstable when these diagnoses were eliminated from the analysis. Although validation of
the five-cluster solution using contrasting variables for the adolescent sample was weak,
the five-cluster solution for the adult sample was convincingly validated. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/9906 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Paris, Faye Ann |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 7326761 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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