Attachment and Sexual Offending: Understanding and Applying Attachment Theory to the Treatment of Juvenile Sexual Offenders / Edition 1 available in Paperback
Attachment and Sexual Offending: Understanding and Applying Attachment Theory to the Treatment of Juvenile Sexual Offenders / Edition 1
- ISBN-10:
- 047009107X
- ISBN-13:
- 9780470091074
- Pub. Date:
- 12/16/2005
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Attachment and Sexual Offending: Understanding and Applying Attachment Theory to the Treatment of Juvenile Sexual Offenders / Edition 1
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780470091074 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 12/16/2005 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.69(w) x 9.72(h) x 0.84(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Attachment and Sexual Offending
By Phil Rich
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0-470-09106-1Chapter One
The Relationship of Attachment to Juvenile Sexual Offending
In attachment theory, the term "attachment" is actually a multidimensional construct rather than a word with a single fixed meaning, separating into attachment experiences, attachment patterns, and attachment strategies. There is a link between these dimensions of course, and attachment patterns and strategies develop out of earlier attachment experiences and later come to affect current attachment experiences. However, although they operate interactively and simultaneously to define attachment as a whole, each dimension represents a different aspect of attachment, each with its own meaning. Indeed, this is one of the difficulties in describing "attachment," per se.
The word itself has come to be synonymous with being attached, or having a sense of social connection and the ability to become socially connected. Yet "attachment" describes only an abstract concept, actually realized through the experience of attachment, the manner or pattern in which the experience of attachment is manifested, and scripts or strategies by which the seeking and maintenance of experienced attachment is implemented. In its grammar, "attachment" is a verb (to attach oneself to), an adjective (to have an attached relationship with), and a noun (an attachment exists between them). To this end, attachment is a process, an organized set of procedures, and a state of being. The attachment concept, then, is operationalized as a subjective experience, a style or pattern, and an approach or strategy. We seek evidence of attachment through self-report, the assessment of classifiable styles (patterns) of attachment, and/or manifestations of attachment-seeking (or maintaining) behavior.
Each of these elements not only begins to define what we mean by attachment, but also makes clear that use of the attachment label in exploring, classifying, and understanding human behavior requires different observational and measurement procedures for different dimensions of attachment, and at different stages in human development. The simple and often off-handed manner in which we describe "attachment," and describe individuals as attached or not attached (or securely or insecurely attached), is both inadequate and ill-informed. Attachment is no less complex and abstract than any other psychological construct or phenomenon of human behavior, and should be considered, explored, and understood in this light.
ATTACHMENT IN THE ADOLESCENT
It is not even clear if "attachment" in adolescence is the same phenomenon as "attachment" in infancy and early childhood. Certainly, by adulthood "attachment" has taken on a different meaning and relates more to romantic relationships, the parenting role, and, more loosely, other adult affiliative-social relationships. Adolescence, then, beginning in late, pre-pubescent childhood and extending to early adulthood, serves as a transitional period, bridging the developmental gap between the infant and childhood form of attachment and the adult variant, or outcome, of attachment. Adolescence, along with its many other related roles in cognitive, affective, moral, and social development, is presumably the period during which attachment is redefined and transformed, and in which the attachment experience takes on an entirely different meaning, fuels significantly different behavior, and serves substantially different purposes than childhood attachment.
Through cognitive and affective development and the unfolding of the biological and neurological sequence, during adolescence the experiences of childhood metamorphosize into something quite different, becoming crystallized in the still developing ego as aspects of personality. No longer the biological, evolutionarily driven survival tool hypothesized by attachment theory to be driving the behavior and psychology of the young child, as with human development in general attachment in adolescence is also transformed. Although attachment theory does not provide a clear description of attachment in adolescence, it presumably becomes the proving grounds in which the sense of security and self-confidence derived from early attachment experiences turns into the self-directed behavior, self-image, perceptions of others, social relationships, and behaviors that will increasingly define the adolescent and shape his or her adulthood experiences of self and others.
By adolescence, early attachment experiences and the sense of being attached are folded into mental representations and displayed in behaviors that do not resemble the internalized attachment experience and external behaviors of infants and pre-school children. The mental schema described by so many psychologists, built in part upon early attachment experience, is the key to what attachment becomes and how it contributes to and perhaps drives perceptions of self and others, emotional life, social interactions, behaviors, and self-regulation. Conceptualized by attachment theory as the mental schema by which early attachment experiences are hard wired into the central nervous system, embodied in the "internal working model" are the individual's experience of the world, sense of self and others, and strategies to make sense of, implement, and manage social interactions. In most models of mental schemata, this metaphysical mental map serves not only as the center of all intentional action but also as the location of the ego, or sense of selfhood. It is this internal working model that is probably the best target for understanding the impact of attachment on the development of selfhood and the transformations in "attachment" that occur during the transition from childhood to adolescence, and again from adolescence to adulthood.
THE LINK BETWEEN RESEARCH AND THEORY
Regardless of increasing truisms that imply or assert that the development of pathology in sexual offenders is linked to underdeveloped attachment in children, there is little evidence that the existence of attachment deficits has any direct connection to the development of sexually abusive behavior in children or adolescents, and hence adults. Despite the attractiveness of the position and its appearance as having explanatory power, the idea that poor attachment experiences serve as a developmental pathway to juvenile sexual offending remains specious at this time. This is not to say that attachment difficulties do not play a role, whether major or minor, but merely that we must put such ideas into a context informed by a broad understanding of attachment, sexually abusive behavior, and evidence that links the two, rather than simply interesting and intuitively attractive theory, let alone our great need to understand and be able to categorize all human behavior.
Evidence of attachment deficits and a link to juvenile sexual offending is drawn largely from investigations into the attachment status of adult sexual offenders, but even in this domain such evidence is both limited and questionable. In many ways, a critical review of the research with adult sexual offenders suggests that, despite the use of empirical research designs, there is a confirmatory bias. That is, research seems to be used to confirm a priori theory almost uncritically, rather than discover, test, or evaluate it. In fact, it is not uncommon to read in much of the present research (which is quite sparse and often conducted by the same group of researchers, or built directly upon the work of these researchers) that although the data do not yet support the theory, there is nevertheless good reason to believe that attachment deficits are key, and it is simply a matter of time, better research design, and improved measurement processes until evidence supporting theoretical assumptions is discovered. For instance, despite acknowledging the many limitations reported in most studies, Mulloy and Marshall (1999) write that they continue to be sure that "despite the problems ... there appears to be no doubt that attachment styles are an important area of dysfunction in sexual offenders" (p. 106). Similarly, Smallbone and Dadds (2000) write that "notwithstanding these limitations, these results indicate that childhood attachment may play some role in the development of coercive sexual behavior" (p. 13). It is as though we have decided that it is there (the attachment deficit link) and we will find it, if not now then soon.
It may be true that difficulties and disruptions in the experience of early attachment and the development of satisfactory and nourishing social relationships contribute significantly to the onset of coercive and abusive sexual behaviors in some men, and this idea has both obvious face validity and intuitive appeal. But, so far, this is just an attractive theory that seeks to answer disturbing and complex questions for which we have few other answers.
In fact, there is limited support that the attachment classifications of adult sexual offenders differ significantly from those of non-sexual criminal offenders or non-offenders (i.e., the general population). Accordingly, research has so far engaged largely in a theoretical assumption that attachment deficits do exist and that they are significantly linked to the development of sexually abusive behavior (in men, at least), despite failing to find strong or consistent proof for this attractive idea. Even across similar studies, researchers have failed to demonstrate any consistent or predictable outcomes that support attachment deficit or related hypotheses, although tend to focus on almost any data that even minimally support the already assumed presence of attachment deficits. In most cases, other data from the same research could just as easily suggest that differences in attachment deficits are no more apparent in sexual offenders than in non-sexual criminal offenders, or even the general public. Even when researchers do provide some evidence for their hypotheses in this area, a more critical look at the data shows flaws and weaknesses. This approach, in which research supports theory rather than seeking to understand the problem, is characterized by Andrew Lang, the late nineteenth-century Scottish writer, who is credited as saying that some use research as an drunken person uses a lamp post-for support, rather than illumination.
Reviewed in Chapters 11 and 12, it is as though research studies grab onto the small details that support the theory, rather than the data that do not. These supporting data, even if slim, are used to move us towards a conclusion that researchers seemingly have already reached. In politics, this is called "spin."
THREE RISKS IN ASSESSING ATTACHMENT IN JUVENILE SEXUAL OFFENDERS
Aside from a critique of adult sexual offender research, as mentioned, attachment research in adolescent sexual offenders is even more rare than the relatively sparse research into attachment, social relatedness, and empathy in adult sexual offenders, and is just getting underway at this point. We face three risks, then, if we draw our conclusions from the current research and theory.
Risk One: Failure to Discriminate between Adult and Juvenile Sexual Offenders
We may assume that the same patterns, experiences, and/or strategies of attachment and social connectedness that have been or may be found in adult male sexual offenders also apply to juvenile sexual offenders, although we already know that juveniles are different from adults, and juvenile sexual offenders are different from adult sexual offenders.
We have already come to recognize essential differences between the two populations (juvenile and adult sexual offenders) in most aspects of their sexually abusive behaviors, including motivations, context, and targets, as well as developmental level. It is important to recognize that similar differences will also be found in their experience and level of attachment, which presumably plays a different role during adolescence, is still developing, and is in transition between the childhood variant of attachment and its adult counterpart. It is not only a mistake at this juncture to assume that we have actually proven something about attachment in adult sexual offenders, when we actually have not, but it would be an even bigger mistake to simply transfer what we believe we know about attachment in adult sexual offenders to the realm of juvenile sexual offending. We have already learned not to transpose or overlay our ideas about adult sexual offenders onto juvenile sexual offenders.
Risk Two: Failure to Discriminate among Juvenile Sexual Offenders
We have also learned that juvenile sexual offenders are not only different from adult sexual offenders, but are different from one another and are a heterogeneous group. Nevertheless, the attachment concept is so attractive and intuitively obvious that we may assume homogeneity in the level of attachment and social connectedness across the population, and thus assume a common source of difficulties and causes of sexual offending in juveniles. Here we may come to assume similar experiences, similar responses to those experiences, and similar cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns across the entire population of sexually reactive children and sexual offenders.
Given the already elevated level of discussion about attachment deficits in sexual offenders and its presumed application to juveniles, as well as to adults, it is somehow as if we have unlearned what we have previously learned about the level of heterogeneity among sexual offenders, including juvenile sexual offenders, and the lack of a single-point, homogeneous developmental pathway.
Risk Three: The Uncritical Acceptance of Ideas
We face a third risk if we continue to uncritically accept ideas about attachment and its application to the assessment and treatment of juvenile sexual offending, without waiting to better define the ideas of attachment theory and understand how they may influence the development of sexually abusive behavior. Here, the risk is that we may begin to labor under the misapprehension that we have found a cause of sorts-one of the "Factor X" (Rich, 2003) reasons that we seek to explain why juvenile sexual offenders engage in sexually abusive behavior, and what distinguishes them or, at least, their developmental path, from the path of non-sexually abusive youth. We seem to insist, and perhaps this is endemic to the larger field of psychology, that there are universal answers and causes and that if only we had a stronger and more complete theory we would discover those mysterious factor X's that we want to believe specifically drive cognition, affect, and behavior in one direction or another.
In fact, one of the unfortunate elements that seems common to sex offender work is that we seek out and hold onto ideas, sometimes accepting unproven ideas as empirically proven "fact." If repeated with enough frequency and certainty, ideas, even if poorly informed and sometimes erroneous, may harden into "conventional wisdom," shading into dogma in the words of Chaffin and Bonner (1998). On a similar note, Laws, Hudson, and Ward (2000) describe as "received wisdom" the widely accepted view that the cognitive-behavioral/ relapse prevention model is the most efficacious model of treatment despite the fact, as they point out, that we have no substantial evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of such models.
Our willingness to accept and latch onto unproven solutions for difficult problems perhaps stems from our understandable need to turn to researchers and leaders in our field for answers, expecting direction to be forthcoming and thus sometimes easily and uncritically adopting their views. Relevant also to the acceptance of weakly proven ideas is the way that information is passed around in the field, like the game of telephone in which the original message is corrupted and distorted by the time it reaches the final player. Our desire to figure things out and help kids, both the perpetrators and victims of sexually abusive behavior, only serves to further exacerbate this situation in which we yearn for straightforward and obvious answers to complex and highly problematic questions. The risk, then, is that unproven and even poorly researched ideas will be proliferated and adopted before their time.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Attachment and Sexual Offending by Phil Rich Excerpted by permission.
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Table of Contents
About the Author.Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Chapter 1: The Relationship of Attachment to Juvenile Sexual Offending.
Chapter 2: The Foundations of Attachment: Attunement and Human Connection.
Chapter 3: The Formation of Attachment and the Emergence of Self.
Chapter 4: The Secure Self: Attachment, Self, and the Internalized World.
Chapter 5: An Attachment Framework.
Chapter 6: Patterns of Attachment.
Chapter 7: The Assessment and Classification of Attachment.
Chapter 8: Measuring Attachment.
Chapter 9: Disordered Attachment or Attachment Disorder?
Chapter 10: Applying the Attachment Framework: An Attachment-driven Case Study.
Chapter 11: Presumed Links: An Attachment-driven Pathway to Sexual Abuse.
Chapter 12: The Evidence for Attachment-driven Sexual Offenses.
Chapter 13: Antisocial Pathways.
Chapter 14: Essential Elements: Empathy, Morality, and Social Connection.
Chapter 15: The Neural Self: The Neurobiology of Attachment.
Chapter 16: Understanding Attachment-informed Treatment.
Chapter 17: The Attachment-informed Treatment Environment.
Chapter 18: Implications for Treatment.
Chapter 19: Conclusions: Getting Connected.
Bibliography.
Index.
What People are Saying About This
"...significant contribution..." (The Psychologist, July 2006)
"…very readable, interesting…comprehensive…" (PsychCritiques, January 2007)