Hostile Masculinity and Emotional Negativity as Pathways to Hostility Toward Women

Many researches in the field of sexual delinquency focus solely on the presence of inadequate coping strategies prior to the sexual offense and on the role they play in the assault sequence. Moreover, not only the presence of these inadequate coping strategies has been shown on multiple occasions to enhance the probabilities of committing a sexual offense within a sexual offender population, but also this seems to be particularly appropriate when it comes to sexual aggressors of children. But how do these offenders come to develop strategies such as alcohol misuse, drug abuse and more particularly, deviant sexual fantasies as a normalized way to manage day-to-day difficulties? To gain insight into the origins of the development of inadequate coping strategies, we have carried out a series of structural equation modeling analyses (SEM) on a sample of 276 sexual aggressors of children. These analyses were based on the theoretical model of Maniglio (2011) stipulating that child victimization (and especially sexual victimization) would later on create psychological problems, which in turn, could lead to the development of deviant sexual fantasies as a form of coping mechanism. Multiple pathways were found linking childhood victimization to psychological problems and to alcohol misuse, drug problems and deviant sexual fantasies. The theoretical and empirical implications of our results will be discussed

Several researchers have found that sexual aggressors have inadequate coping strategies (e.g., sexual fantasies, substance use). However, very few researchers have empirically examined the theoretical factors considered to be at the origin and involved in the development of these. In 2011, Roberto Maniglio hypothesized that the inadequate coping strategies of sexual aggressors are the result of childhood abuse mediated by internalized psychological problems. The present study therefore aims to empirically test this hypothesis in a Canadian sample of 206 sexual aggressors of women. Among the offenders, 37 killed their victims. Based on an analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM), we identified several direct and indirect trajectories from childhood victimization (psychological, physical and sexual abuse) to the development of inadequate coping strategies (deviant sexual fantasies, alcohol, drugs), through internalized psychological problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, social isolation). These developmental trajectories leading to the adoption of inadequate coping strategies, and their theoretical implications, will be discussed during the presentation.