Heterogeneity in antisocial trajectories in youth of adult sexual aggressors of women: An examination of initiation, persistence, escalation and aggravation

Abstract

Recent explanatory models of sexual aggression of women have emphasized the role of an antisocial tendency in explaining sexual aggression. If those models agree about the importance of an antisocial propensity, they disagree about the presence of a single or multiple pathways leading to sexual aggression. Currently, no empirical studies have examined within-individual changes of antisocial behavior in youth of sexual aggressors of women and whether those changes are related to the unfolding of the sexual and nonsexual criminal activity in adulthood. This study examines the presence of antisocial trajectories in childhood and adolescence using a sample of 209 convicted adult sexual aggressors of women. A dynamic classification procedure using cluster analyses yields five distinct antisocial trajectories, which are then compared using analysis of covariance on various parameters of criminal activity in adulthood. The results highlight the heterogeneity of antisocial development in youth of adult sexual aggressors of women. Patterns of initiation, persistence, and escalation in youth are related to the general, violent, and sexual offending in adulthood.