A MACI-based personality typology of adolescent sexual offenders: differences in family backgrounds, victim selection characteristics, and personal victimisation histories

Abstract

Previous research suggests that identifying specific subgroups amongst the population of adolescent sexual offenders may contribute to understanding the aetiology of their offending. Such knowledge may also help to improve the treatment outcomes for this group. The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) profiles of 82 adolescent male sexual offenders aged 13 to 19 in a community-based treatment sample were analysed to determine if this measure could be used to identify different subtypes of offenders based on personality variables. Four groups were identified by cluster analysis: one group of withdrawn, socially inadequate types (n = 25) another group of antisocial and externalising types (n = 11), and two further groups displaying few traits of clinically significant elevation (n = 20 and n = 26 respectively). Between-group comparisons found the proportion of adolescents reporting physical abuse by their parents was significantly different across the four groups. Subgroup membership was unrelated to victim age, victim gender, and offenders' history of sexual victimisation. Analyses of the study population found those adolescents who had themselves been victims of sexual abuse were significantly more likely to have had at least one male victim relative to those offenders without a history of sexual victimisation. Support was also shown for the hypothesis that adolescent sexual offenders exhibit personality profiles similar to those of delinquent non-sexual offenders. The results of the study provide evidence of the heterogeneity of adolescent sexual offenders in both personality characteristics and psychopathology while also suggesting potentially different etiological pathways and different treatment needs.