Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Civil commitment of sex offenders; Psychology, Pathological; Sex offenders--Psychology; Academic theses;
Abstract
Previous research on sexual offender treatment has produced mixed results regarding effectiveness and recidivism rates of sexual offenders. The literature shows differences among categories of sexual offenders which suggest extrafamilial adult offenders (rapists) and offenders with both adult and child victims ten to be a bigger threat to society in comparison to familial offenders (incest) and extrafamilial child offenders ( child molesters). Extrafamilial adult offenders and mixed offenders have demonstrated higher levels of psychopathy. Seventy-four civilly committed sexual offenders participated in the current study by completing a psychopathy measure and retrieval of archival data. Fifty-five participants produced valid PPI-R profiles and were included in the final analyses. No significant relationships were found between groups of offenders based on victim-type and psychopathy and between treatment scores and psychopathy. The total psychopathy score was not associated with average time in treatment phases; however; the Fearless Dominance factor of psychopathy was negatively related to average time in treatment phases. This provides evidence that fearlessness, dominance in interpersonal relationships, and the ability to be socially engaging is related to shorter time in treatment phases. Implications of the study can impact sexual offender treatment programs and civil commitment programs for sexually violent predators.
Year of Submission
2012
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Psychology
First Advisor
John E. Williams
Second Advisor
Kim MacLin
Third Advisor
Mary Losch
Date Original
2012
Object Description
1 PDF file (153 leaves)
Copyright
©2012 Ashley Helle
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Helle, Ashley, "Psychopathy and Victim-Type Related to Treatment Outcome for Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders" (2012). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2922.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2922
Comments
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