Spouses of incest offenders: Coaddictive tendencies and dysfunctional etiologies

Abstract

Abstract A study of spouses of incest offenders was conducted to discover if (a) these women had significantly more severe coaddictive tendencies than a matched group of controls, (b) whether spouses played a supportive role in encouraging offender's behavior, and (c) whether incest offenders and spouses of incest offenders had similar dysfunctional etiologies. Three samples were selected from among long-time residents of Central Alberta: 132 incest offenders, 155 spouses of incest offenders, and a control group of 100 women. Instruments used to assess various qualities of these groups included the Abuse Survey, the Coaddictive Inventory, and the Coaddictive Consequence Survey. Results supported all three experimental questions, that is, spouses demonstrated severe coaddictive tendencies, often played a supportive role in hiding or encouraging the offender's behavior, and both incest offenders and spouses experienced a wide variety of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse during childhood. These and other...