Past Issues

Objectives: The objective of this study was to explore risk factors of personal
characteristics, parental rearing attitude, and other variables among juvenile sexual
offenders (JSOs). Method: We compared the personality characteristics of 76
JSOs and their parents’ child-rearing style to 50 juveniles of nonoffenders. We administered
the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQ) and the Parental
Bonding Instrument (PBI) to all, and their demographic data were collected. Results:
The results showed that offenders have a higher level of neuroticism personality
characteristics than the nonoffender juveniles (p < 0.001). In terms of the parents’
child-rearing style, the JSOs had a lower level of paternal care (p < 0.01) and
maternal care (p < 0.001) than the comparison group. All substance use, including
tobacco, alcohol and illegal drug, offenders have a higher abuse than the nonoffender
juveniles (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001). The parsimonious regression
model shows three risk factors related JSOs: tobacco use, father’s education level,
and parental marital status. Conclusion: The profi le of the JSOs would help identify
and assess JSOs during intervention. Our study showed that many signifi cant
characteristics were different with juveniles of non-offenders. We have found some
different characteristics among sexual offenders, but further explanatory studies
are needed to explore their relationship of casualty with sexual offending behavior
to confi rm whether these characteristics can be helpful in designing treatment programs
for juvenile sexual offenders.