It's All About Me

Abstract

This study investigated the scope of cognitive distortions and their relationship to empathy among adolescent sex offenders. Self-report measures of sex-specific and generic self-serving cognitive distortions as well as empathy were administered to 175 male sex offenders aged 12 to 20 incarcerated at a juvenile correctional facility. Generic distortions (e.g., attribution of carelessness to theft victims) were elevated and correlated with sex-specific distortions (e.g., attribution of promiscuity to rape victims). Sex-specific and generic distortions were each inversely associated with unique variance in empathy. Relationships of the distortions to particular contexts of victimization and empathic distress (i.e., for their own sexual abuse victim, another offender's sexual abuse victim, or an accident victim) were also explored. Results suggested that adolescent sex offenders' self-serving cognitive distortions may pervasively neutralize concerns for victims and, therefore, that treatment programs should aim to remediate not only their sex-specific but also their generic self-serving cognitive distortions.