A comparative analysis of youth sex offenders and non-offender peers: Is there a difference in their coping strategies?

SummaryPurposeTo investigate the coping strategies of youth sexual offenders, which are believed to be important elements in the development of sexual offending behaviours.Subjects and methodThis cross-sectional study investigated two groups of male adolescents (n = 196) consisting of youth sexual offenders and non-offender peers. Examination of the coping strategies was measured by a Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS).ResultsIt was hypothesized that youth sexual offenders used sex-related activities and emotions as coping strategies to alleviate negative emotional states and problematic situations. The results obtained demonstrated that youth sexual offenders make less use of sex-related activities as a way of coping with stressful situations, but make more use of emotions-coping strategies when compared to non-offender peers. An attempt was made to predict youth as sexual offenders or non-offenders according to the coping strategies they used in times of stress. The logistic regression model used was statistically significant and the analysis performed increased the likelihood of correctly identifying youth sexual offenders based on the coping strategies used in times of stress.ConclusionThe results of the study demonstrated that youth sexual offenders have a tendency to use emotional responses to cope with life's difficulties, which may be increasing their level of stress and thereby placing them at a higher risk to offend sexually.