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Psychopathology and Sexual Aggression in Nonincarcerated Men

NCJ Number
173330
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 1997 Pages: 389-395
Author(s)
P C Ouimette
Date Published
1997
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Men who self-reported rape or attempted rape (n=47) were compared on psychopathology to sexually active men who denied perpetrating sexual aggression (n=56).
Abstract
The subjects were surveyed with the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss and Gidycz, 1985), and they completed structured clinical interviews. Findings show that sexually aggressive men reported a pattern of symptoms that indicated impulse control problems; they had more conduct-disordered behavior in childhood and abused alcohol and illicit drugs more than nonviolent men. These symptoms were clinically significant: a higher proportion of sexually aggressive men met criteria for child conduct disorder and had a higher proportion of alcohol and drug abuse diagnoses than nonviolent men. Sexually aggressive men also reported more personality disorder symptoms than nonviolent men, suggesting that they had less empathy and were more self-centered and manipulative than nonviolent men. These findings indicate that undetected sexually violent men have fairly severe and long- standing problems with impulsivity. Future research might examine whether severe psychopathology is a characteristic specific to the most violent perpetrators of sexual aggression or whether men who perpetrate varying levels of sexual aggression or coercion also evidence such characteristics. More work on identifying the methods that produce the most accurate reporting of sexual aggression in the general population is essential. 1 table and 20 references