Sexually abusive youths’ moral reasoning on sex

Abstract

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure – Short Form Objective (SRM-SFO) with additional items related to sexual moral issues was applied to an incarcerated sexually abusive juvenile population. Sexually abusive youths were expected to show a lower level of moral development related to sexual issues when compared to non-offending youths, but not for non-sexual issues. The sample consisted of 24 incarcerated sexually abusive male youths and 24 non-offending male youths. Results indicated that sexually abusive youths used more preconventional reasoning related to sexual issues when compared to controls. No differences were found in conventional reasoning on sexual issues and non-sexual issues. In addition, no differences were found in preconventional reasoning on non-sexual issues, thus partly confirming the main hypothesis. It was concluded that the original form of the SRM-SFO could not assess existing moral development delays in sexually abusive youths, but can with appropriate adjustments. Additionally, the results suggest that moral development is rather flexible in relation to moral value domains.