Citation

Grattagliano I, Cassibba R, Costantini A, Laquale GM, Latrofa A, Papagna S, Sette G, Taurino A, Terlizzi M. J. Forensic Sci. 2014; 60 Suppl 1: S138-42.

Affiliation

Department of Criminology and Forensic Psychiatry, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.12652

PMID

25382061

Abstract

A group of sex offenders (clinical group: n = 19) was compared to a nonclinical sample matched by age, years of education, and gender (control group A: n = 19) to verify a higher incidence of insecure attachment models among sex offenders. In addition, we tested whether sex offenders were characterized by specific childhood experiences, compared to control adults (control group B: n = 19) with the same secure/insecure attachment classification.

RESULTS showed significant differences between offenders and control adults on both the AAI continuous score and the distribution of the two-way attachment classifications. Furthermore, sex offenders reported more intense experiences of rejection by the father figure and abuse in the family context during early childhood compared to not offenders subjects with the same attachment classification.

Language: en