Trauma and Dissociation Among Sexually Abusive Juveniles

ISBN-13: 9783639129793 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 132 str.

George Leibowitz

Opis

Elevated levels of dissociative symptoms, e.g.,amnesia and depersonalization, have been found to be a predictorof violent behavior in some studies. Traumaticdissociation-dissociation which results from traumatic stress-has been understudiedamong juvenile offenders and sexually abusive youth, despite thefact that high numbers of incarcerated adolescents have been exposedto multiple types of trauma. This research offers theoretical andclinical insights into the relationships between different types ofchildhood victimization, dissociation and trauma relateddisorders, including posttraumatic stress disorders, and subsequentoffending behaviors in a large sample of delinquent youth and adolescentsex offenders. Preliminary links are established betweendissociation and traumatic stress in this population, and a model is advancedthat indicates a significant relationship between dissociation andadolescent sexual offending. Additionally, the author reviews thehistorical and contemporary conceptualizations of dissociation andoffers a discussion of the possible racial and ethnicdifferences in dissociative symptoms.

O autorze

Dr. George Stuart Leibowitz is Assistant Professor of Social Work
at the University of
Vermont. He specializes in the treatment of sexually abusive
behavior among
adolescents, and his research focuses on etiological models of
delinquency and sexual
offending among youth, especially the effects of trauma,
dissociation, and
victimization.