The Use of Specialized Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies in the Treatment of Adolescent Sexual Offenders

Abstract

A specialized approach to the treatment of adolescent sexual offenders is presented. Etiological issues leading to treatment innovation are discussed with particular attention given to the utilization of cognitive-behavioral methodologies for the amelioration of impulse control problems and deviant sexual arousal. Preandpost-treatment data are presentedforfifteen adolescent child molesters of prepubescent females and twelve adolescent child molesters of prepubescent males. Adolescent child molesters of both young males and females demonstrated stable responses to deviant stimuli across baseline conditions (two assessments, one to four months apart), but a marked reduction in deviant arousal at a two-month treatment interval (39.3% reduction to male pedophilic cues, p <.05; 33.5% reduction to female pedophilic cues, p <.01) using plethysmographic assessment. Contrastingly, arousal to description of consensual sexual activity with a same age female remained high across baseline and treatment conditions creating a greater positive differential between non-deviant and deviant arousal following treatment. Directions for future research and clinical work with this population are discussed.