Self-Esteem and Parental Attachments in Child Molesters

We evaluated self-esteem and various possible indices of the quality of the subjects' parental attachments in both child molesters (n = 24) and nonoffenders (n = 23). Of the various measures employed, only on the Social Self-Esteem Inventory and the Childhood Sexual Abuse Scale did we find significant group differences. The child molesters had lower self-esteem and were more likely to report childhood sexual abuse than were the nonoffenders. Maternal rejection scores were the best predictors of self-esteem. The results are taken to support partially our theory of the etiology of child molestation and are discussed in terms of their relevance for treatment.