Sexual Abuse Within the Family: The Intergenerational Transmission of Victimhood and Offending

This chapter provides an overview of research carried out on 185 juvenile male sex offenders who received treatment in a residential center. We examined their and their parents’ history of sexual abuse. Specifically we tested hypotheses relating to the mechanisms linking offender and victim status in cases of sexual abuse within families, i.e. intra-familial abuse. Our findings offer most support for a social learning theory of sexual abuse. Juvenile sex offenders either from families where intra-familial abuse has occurred or who have a father with a history of sexual abuse against children occurring during their childhood have an increased risk of themselves abusing children, rather than peers. Juvenile sex offenders who themselves have been the victim of intra-familial abuse, or who have a sibling that has suffered intra-familial abuse, have an increased risk of committing intra-familial sexual abuse.