Publication Date

2008

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Abstract

Reoffense of nonsexual crime in juveniles is 3 to 4 times more likely than the reoffense of sexual crime (Burton and Meezan, 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate how the literature-based factors of experienced trauma, masculine beliefs, and substance abuse affect the commission of nonsexual violence in sexually offending juveniles. Three related quantitative articles were written in this investigation. The first article explores each factor separately among a group of sexual offenders to see how each explains their nonsexually violent behavior. Assumptions about trauma and masculinity in this group were not supported, but alcohol use was. Each of the next two articles isolates masculinity as the sole factor in sexual and nonsexual aggressivity among offending juveniles and compares masculine beliefs among subgroups according to type of offending and severity of violent behavior. None of the assumptions for masculinity were supported across subgroups, as all subgroups selected 'no opinion,' on average, when asked their opinions on masculine beliefs. More research is needed in understanding how subtypes of masculinity and hostility can be measured in juveniles, with extra attention to how gender-based factors are internalized cross-culturally in this population.

Comments

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. iii, 70 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 21-30, 41-51, 66-70) Contents: Trauma, masculinity, and substance abuse in the commission of nonsexual violence among male juvenile sexual offenders: an investigation toward predicting behavior -- Masculinity as pathology: an exploration of distorted masculine beliefs comparing juvenile sexual offenders to nonsexual offenders -- Macho-man: A close look at the relationship between masculinity and criminality in sexually offending and nonsexually offending juveniles

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