Adverse childhood experiences, insecure attachment & reflectiveness in adulthood: A new way forward in sex offender treatment [Author Accepted Manuscript]

The article reviews the research on childhood adversity, insecure attachment and reflective functioning, to make the case that criminal offenders often suffer adversity in their childhood years, and then develop insecure types of attachment, symptoms of which are related to the outcome variable of sexual recidivism. Insecurely attached subjects demonstrate deficits in their ability to be reflective in adulthood. Given that the ability to be reflective has been shown to have a moderating effect on aggression, and because empirical work has not clearly demonstrated that treatment as it is traditionally provided reduces sexual recidivism, a new model is put forward, one emphasizing reflectiveness as it relates to childhood adversity. Case examples are used to illustrate the method, and treatment programs in North America and Europe might choose to include our revised Adult Attachment Inventory in their work with adult male sexual offenders.