The Development of a Psycho-Educational Group Program for Adolescent Sex Offenders

The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate a psycho-educational group program for adolescent sex offenders. A group of adolescent males, in a state treatment facility for delinquents, were referred to the program because they had histories of committing sex offenses. The group met twice weekly for seven weeks. These youths showed improvements, in comparison to a waiting list control group, on pre-post assessments of components considered important for the intervention and treatment of adolescent sex offenders (i.e., increased sexual knowledge, improved psychological attitudes, and improved problem-solving ability). Another component, moral judgment, showed no improvement as a result of the intervention program. Implications for further treatment and research are discussed.