Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T08:45:47.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluation of Attributional Change in a Relapse Prevention Program for Child Molesters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Jillian Larsen ,
Stephen M. Hudson  and
Tony Ward
Jillian Larsen
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury
Stephen M. Hudson*
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury
Tony Ward
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury
*
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
Get access

Abstract

Relapse prevention is a multimodal, cognitive-behavioural approach to treating, among other types of clients, child molesters. Rather than positing a cure as the outcome of treatment, it emphasises self-management and personal responsibility for avoiding or coping with situations that threaten self-control. The motivation to use these self-control strategies is likely to vary according to beliefs about the causes of their offending behaviour, particularly as a function of the degree to which they are seen as controllable. Fifteen child molesters, classified as preferential or situational type, and familial or nonfamilial, from the Kia Marama unit at Rolleston Prison reported on their causal beliefs concerning their offence-related behaviour at four points in their description of their most typical or recent relapse. This assessment was carried out at four points in the 35-week relapse-prevention based treatment program.

All participants made clinically positive changes in their causal ascriptions over treatment. Preferential participants judged the cause of their offending to be less controllable, and more stable at the time of offence, and more global than situational offenders. Compared with non-familial participants, incestuous participants evaluated the cause of their offending to be less stable at the time of their offence and less global across all the assessment points. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of attributional assessment as an interim measure of progress, particularly with respect to motivation to avoid reoffending.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 127 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abacus Concepts. (1986). StatView. Calabasas, CA: Author.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Benson, M.J. (1989). Attribution measurement technique: Classification and comparisons of approaches for measuring causal dimensions. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 307–323.Google Scholar
Brickman, P., Rabinowitz, V.C., Karuza, J., Coates, D., Cohn, D., Kidder, L. (1982). Models of helping and coping. American Psychologist, 37, 368–384.Google Scholar
Carnes, P. (1989). Contrary to love. Minnesota, MN: CompCare.Google Scholar
George, W.H., & Marlatt, G.A. (1989). Introduction. In Laws, D.R. (Ed.), Relapse prevention with sexual offenders (pp. 1–31). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Gray, A.S., & Pithers, W.D. (1993). Relapse prevention with sexually aggressive adolescents and children: Expanding treatment and supervision. In Barbaree, H.E., Marshall, W.L., & Hudson, S.M. (Eds.), The juvenile sex offender (pp. 289–320). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Groth, A.N., Hobson, W.F., & Gary, T.S. (1982). The child molester: Clinical observations. In Conte, J. & Shore, D. (Eds.), Social work and child sexual abuse (pp. 129–142). New York: Haworth.Google Scholar
Heider, F. (1944). Social perception and phenomenal causality. Psychological Review, 51, 358–374.Google Scholar
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooker, C.A. (1987). A realistic theory of science. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Hudson, S.M., Marshall, W.L., Ward, T., Johnston, P.W., & Jones, R.L. (1995). Kia Marama: A cognitive behavioural program for incarcerated child molesters. Behaviour Change, 12, 69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, S.M., Ward, T., & Marshall, W.L. (1992). The abstinence violation effect: A reformulation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 435–441.Google Scholar
Johnston, L., & Ward, T. (in press). Social cognition and sexual offending: A theoretical framework. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treaxmenl.Google Scholar
Kelley, H.H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In Levine, D. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation, 15 (pp. 192–240). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Kelley, H.H. (1972). Causal schemata and the attribution process. Morristown, NJ: General Learning.Google Scholar
Kelley, H.H. (1973). The process of causal attribution. American Psychologist, 28, 107–128.Google Scholar
Knight, R.A., & Prentky, R.A. (1990). Classifying sexual offenders: The development and corroboration of taxonomic models. In Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories and treatment of the offender (pp. 23–52). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Lanyon, R.I. (1986). Theory and treatment in child molestation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 176–182.Google Scholar
Laws, D.R. (Ed.). (1989). Relapse prevention with sex offenders. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Laws, D.R. (in press). A theory of relapse prevention. In O'Donohue, W. & Krasner, L. (Eds.), Theories in behavior therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Marlatt, G.A., & Gordon, J.R. (Eds.). Relapse prevention: Maintenance strategies in the treatment of addictive behaviors. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Marques, J.K., Day, D.M., Nelson, C., & West, M.A. (1994). Effects of a cognitive-behavioral treatment on sex offender recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 21, 28–54.Google Scholar
Marshall, W.L., & Barbaree, H.E. (1988). The long-term evaluation of a behavioral treatment program for child molesters. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26, 499–511.Google Scholar
Marshall, W.L., & Barbaree, H. (1990). Outcome of comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment programs. In Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories and treatment of the offender (pp. 363–385). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, W.L., Hudson, S.M., & Ward, T. (1992). Relapse prevention in sexual deviance. In Wilson, P. (Ed.), Principles and practice of relapse prevention. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Marshall, W.L., Jones, R.L., Ward, T., Johnston, P.W., & Barbaree, H.E. (1991). Treatment outcome with sex offenders. Clinical Psychology Review, 11, 465–485.Google Scholar
Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (1990). Issues in sexual assault. In Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories, and treatment of the offender (pp. 3–8). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, W.L., & Pithers, W. (1994). A reconsideration of treatment outcome with sex offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 21, 10–27.Google Scholar
Miller, W.R., & Rolnick, S. (1991). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people to change addictive behavior. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Murphy, W.D. (1990). Assessment and modification of cognitive distortion in sex offenders. In Marshall, W.L, Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories, and treatment of the offender (pp. 331–342). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pithers, W.D. (1990). Relapse prevention with sexual aggressors: A method for maintaining therapeutic gain and enhancing external supervision. In Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., & Barbaree, H.E. (Eds.), Handbook of sexual assault: Issues, theories and treatment of the offender (pp. 343–361). New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Pithers, W.D., Marques, J.K., Gibat, C.C., & Marlatt, G.A. (1983). Relapse prevention with sexual aggressives: A self-control model of treatment and maintenance of change. In Greer, J.G. & Stuart, I.R. (Eds.), The sexual aggressor: Current perspectives on treatment (pp. 241–239). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.Google Scholar
Prentky, R., & Burgess, A.W. (1990). Rehabilitation of child molesters: A cost-benefit analysis American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60, 108–117.Google Scholar
Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C., & Norcross, J.C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behavior. American Psychologist, 47, 1102–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, D. (1982). The causal dimension scale: A measure of how individuals perceive causes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 1137–1145.Google Scholar
Russell, D., McAuley, E., & Tarico, V. (1987). Measuring causal attributions for success and failure: A comparison of methods for assessing causal dimensions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1248–1257.Google Scholar
Simon, L.M.J, Sales, B., Kaszniak, A., & Kahn, M. (1992). Characteristics of child molesters: Implications for the fixated-regressed dichotomy. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 211–225.Google Scholar
Stermac, L.E., & Segal, Z.V. (1989). Adult sexual contact with children: An examination of cognitive factors. Behavior Therapy, 20, 573–584.Google Scholar
Vallerand, R.J., & Richer, F. (1988). On the use of the causal dimension scale in a field setting: A test with confirmatory factory analysis in success and failure situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 704–712.Google Scholar
Ward, T., Hudson, S.M., & Bulik, C.M. (1993). The abstinence violation effect in bulimia nervosa. Addictive Behaviors, 18, 671–680.Google Scholar
Ward, T., Hudson, S.M., & Marshall, W.L. (1994). The abstinence violation effect in child molesters: An empirical approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 431–437.Google Scholar
Ward, T., Hudson, S.M., & Marshall, W.L. (1995). Cognitive and affective deficits in child molesters: A deconstructionist interpretation. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 7, 67–83.Google Scholar
Watkins, C.E. (1986). Assessing causal dimensions. Australian Psychologist, 21, 467–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 1–29.Google Scholar
Weiner, B. (1982). An attributionally based theory of motivation and emotion: Focus, range and issues. In Heather, N.T. (Ed.), Expectations and actions: Expectancyvalue models in psychology (pp. 163–204). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548–573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar