New research challenges image of sex offenders as insecure loners

The stereotypical image of sex offenders as insecure loners has been challenged by new research from Australia.

The new research by criminologist Philip Birch, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has revealed that contrary to popular belief, sex offenders often displayed attachment styles which were just as secure as non-offenders.

Phil Birch is a lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and his research compared a sample of sex and non-sex offenders and explored the impact of the personality characteristics of attachment styles and emotional loneliness on sexual offending and questioned earlier research which found a strong relationship between sexual offending, insecure attachment styles and high levels of emotional loneliness.

Attachment styles have been shown to develop during a critical period in childhood, between the ages of six to 24 months and if insecure attachments are formulated during this time an individual could grow up to have poor intimacy skills and an inability to relate to others.

Birch says his research questions such a relationship which is dynamic and undeniably complex, and unlike previous research where such a relationship has been shown to be static, was possibly culturally specific given that sexual expression is integrally related to the cultural variable of gender.

Birch who has also worked in the prison service and in policy development, says earlier research found a strong relationship between sexual offending, insecure attachment styles and high levels of emotional loneliness but if we understand that attachment styles can change, it helps us to understand that any of us, in certain circumstances, could be a sex offender.

He says the results indicate a need for considerable caution both in the development of generalised explanatory theory and in the formulation of risk assessment and treatment approaches to such offending behaviour.

The research was presented as part of a seminar series hosted by the School of Social Sciences and International Studies and The Crime and Justice Research Network.