Exploring normal adolescent sex offenders: Investigating moral rigidity

A group of adolescent male sex offenders who reported no abuse histories (substance, physical, sexual, or emotional), were of average intelligence, showed no signs of pathology, and lived with at least one biological parents, were investigated for the purpose of this study. This group was referred to as normal in the context of this study. The primary goal of this study was to determine if moral rigidity was a viable explanation for the normal adolescent sexual offender's behavior.;Thirty normal adolescent sexual offenders were compared to 30 nonnormal adolescent sexual offenders via interview or from information gathered from a database consisting of 150 adolescent male sexual offenders who were mandated for outpatient evaluation and treatment at a psychology clinic in Central California. Participants were recruited from California or Oregon. Each boy had been or was given the High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ) and the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI). Information for the Family Questionnaire was specifically asked of the boys who were interviewed or collected from intake evaluations in the database.;Factors G and B of the HSPQ were used to determine the participant's level of moral rigidity and intelligence. The MACI helped to determine if pathology existed. The Family Questionnaires provided family histories and demographic information.;One-tailed independent samples t tests identified that the normal adolescent sexual offenders not only had a higher level of moral rigidity than the nonnormal group, they reported higher levels of moral contentiousness than adolescents in general. The normal group was significantly older and more intelligent than the nonnormal group. A chi-square test identified no difference between the two groups in terms of their ethnicities.;These results are discussed in terms of their implications for future treatment of adolescent sexual offenders. Limitations to this study consisted of the limited geographical area of participants, lack of corroboration of participant reports, outpatient status of participants, strength of measures used to assess for moral rigidity, and only one biological parent in the home. More extensive research into the areas of religion and sexual knowledge is suggested with this particular group of adolescent sexual offenders.