TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - A prospective investigation of factors that predict desistance from recidivism for adolescents who have sexually offended JO - Sexual abuse: a journal of research and treatment A1 - Worling, James R. A1 - Langton, Calvin M. SP - 127 EP - 142 VL - 27 IS - 1 N2 - Current approaches to violence risk assessment are focused on the identification of factors that are predictive of future violence rather than factors that predict desistance. This is also true for the popular tools designed to predict adolescent sexual recidivism. Research on strengths-based variables with adolescents who have sexually offended that could serve a protective function is only recently underway. In the current prospective study, scores from clinician-completed assessments using the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism (ERASOR) and the parent-completed form of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS-2) were evaluated in a sample of 81 adolescent males with at least one sexual offense. As expected, the ERASOR was significantly correlated with sexual recidivism over an average 3.5-year follow-up. In terms of a protective function, the Affective Strength scale of the BERS-2 was significantly negatively correlated with sexual recidivism, although it did not have incremental validity over and above the ERASOR. The BERS-2 School Functioning scale was significantly negatively correlated with nonsexual recidivism. The results are discussed in terms of previous findings and theoretical work on attachment in sexual offending behavior and implications for risk assessment practice.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1079-0632 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1079063214549260 ID - ref1 ER -