Adolescent sexual offending: A comparison of female and male adolescents on the ERASOR, and background and offense characteristics

Abstract

A sample of 58 female adolescents who have committed sexual offenses (ASOs) was compared with an existing sample of 618 male ASOs. Female and male ASOs were compared on offense characteristics, background characteristics, and ERASOR scores. The convergent validity of the ERASOR was also examined. All female ASOs either initiated or co-initiated their sexual offense(s). However, raters often disagreed about female ASOs' motivations for offending. The modal victim of both female and male ASOs was a female child between the ages of six and 11. Compared with male ASOs, female ASOs were significantly more likely to have been sexually abused, and to have a range of mental health concerns. Female ASOs were significantly less likely to have used violence during their sexual offenses. Although female and male ASOs had similar mean Total Scores on the ERASOR, modified versions of the ERASOR were only able to distinguish ASOs with one victim from ASOs with multiple victims in the male sample. Based on the limited existing literature, the ERASOR is not currently recommended for use with female ASOs.