Female sexual abuse of children, an exploratory study

grantor: University of TorontoThe purpose of this research was to explore the phenomenon of female sexual abuse of children, and to examine the usefulness of Finkelhor's Four-Preconditions Model of Sexual Abuse in determining factors related to this abuse. This study investigated whether women commit sexual offences against children for different reasons than men and whether female sexual offenders possess cognitive distortions about sexual contact with children. Results collected from a sample of thirty female sexual offenders recruited for the study are presented in qualitative and quantitative format. Findings from the study suggested that female sexual offenders are not a homogeneous group and cannot be studied as such. Approximately half of this sample of sex offenders were forced to abuse their victims by their male partners or husbands, a powerful finding from the study, and a replicated finding from previous research. The research also revealed that almost three-quarters of the women in this study were the victims of sexual abuse themselves when they were younger. This is a higher percentage than found for male child sexual offenders. Findings also suggest that, unlike male sex offenders, female sexual offenders did not appear to endorse cognitive distortions that contribute to child sexual abuse. Despite the comprehensiveness of the model in terms of its explanatory power for the behaviour of male sex offenders, it fails as an overall model when applied to a sample of female sex offenders. The model is only partially useful when applied to a particular sub-group of women who sexually abuse children; that is, the small number of women who can be described as most closely fitting the profile of a pedophile. Given the heterogeneity of female sex offenders, the model is limited in terms of providing guidance for a conceptual analysis of women who sexually abuse children. To its credit, the model has been a useful organizing tool with respect to examining the numerous facets and complexities behind the behaviour of women who sexually abuse children.Ph.D