Posted on 09/12/2002 6:40:06 AM PDT by Taliesan
Many Sex Offenders Had Bad Fathering During Youth Wed Sep 11, 5:20 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many incarcerated rapists and other violent offenders may have had fathers who were unresponsive to their needs during their early years, recent study findings suggest.
While this does not mean that the early father-son relationship determines whether young boys grow up to become criminals, it may have "major implications for the prevention of crime, particularly the early detection and treatment of individuals who are at risk of developing antisocial lifestyles and attitudes," write study author Dr. Tony Ward of the University of Melbourne in Australia and his colleagues.
To investigate, the researchers interviewed 55 men incarcerated for child molestation and 30 men in prison for rape to determine their perceptions of their early relationships with their mothers and fathers. For comparison the study also included 32 men who were incarcerated for violent crimes and 30 men in jail for non-violent, non-sex-related crimes.
In general, study findings indicate that the fathers of the rapists and violent offenders were less responsive to their needs than the fathers of the other offenders, the investigators report in a recent issue of The Journal of Sex Research. The mothers and fathers of the rapists and violent offenders also did not seem to be as strict in supervision and discipline as did the parents of the other offenders.
Further, rapists and child molesters, to a lesser extent, rated their fathers as more rejecting, and all of the offenders rated their fathers as less consistent than their mothers.
"Clearly the behavior of fathers had more impact on specific types of offenders than did that of mothers, at least within an incarcerated group of offenders," the authors write.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Jules Burstein, a psychologist in private practice in Berkeley, California, told Reuters Health that although the research was "very responsible and very well done...it ought not to be taken as all kids with bad fathers are doomed to become moral monsters."
For these children--similar to those from other disadvantaged circumstances--it may just be "harder to carve out a decent life," he said.
Yet mothers who are concerned about their child's lack of a good father, particularly those with boys--who are much more at risk of becoming sexual offenders than girls--need not feel helpless, according to Burstein.
He advises that they "make really concerted, concrete efforts from the time boys are really young to develop a relationship with a responsible...surrogate male figure."
"It's much, much harder to have a good life if you don't have a good start," he added.
SOURCE: The Journal of Sex Research 2002;39:85-93.
"It's much, much harder to have a good life if you don't have a good start," he added.
The feminists aren't gonna like this! Why, this man seems to equate having a Man in a boy's life with the concept of "a good start". How prehistoric!
The truth is, of course, that a child needs a mom and a dad who are committed to each other and the child for life.
That is, of course, the truth. It's common sense, it's what all the great religions teach, and it's what children who don't have such yearn for.
You'll get no arguments from me. Congratulations on overcoming your inauspicious beginnings. You are proof that Nietsche was right: "That which does not kill me makes me stronger."
I take it that many other sex offenders have had good fathering. There you have it. It's all a matter of personal choice to do good or bad things. Duh!
I guess we can't really know anything then, can we, Mr. Moonbeam?
That may be so, but there's nothing in a "bad start" that turns people into lunatics or idiots. There's nothing in a "bad start" that absolves an individual of the obligation not to sexually abuse another human being. There's nothing in a "bad start" that makes an individual incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong.
It is ironic that those who would scoff at religious determinism find it so easy to accept its secular psychological counterpart. The rest of us may continue to think that free will comes into the equation (I know, I was fated to say that...)
BWAAAAA-HAAAAAA-HAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Thanks for the most imbecilic post of the day. I needed that.
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