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dc.contributor.advisorSmallbone, Stephen
dc.contributor.authorParker, Richard John
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-23T02:48:19Z
dc.date.available2018-01-23T02:48:19Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.identifier.doi10.25904/1912/483
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/367017
dc.description.abstractThis thesis investigates the role of moral emotions in child sexual assault. Despite an extensive literature on moral emotions among non-offending populations, there has been little investigation of the role of shame, guilt and pride in the onset and maintenance of child sexual assault. Current theories have generally paid little attention to moral emotions, instead relying on the concept of low self-control/self-regulation to help explain some aspects of this phenomenon. The empirical data on child sexual assault has consistently found that extrafamilial offenders, offenders against boys and younger offenders are more likely to reoffend. The major theories of child sexual assault provide a degree of explanation for the age effect, but do not provide a satisfactory explanation of the findings related to extrafamilial offenders and offenders against boys. This thesis argues that incorporating moral emotions into the existing theories will provide a much more satisfactory explanation of child sexual assault than the explanations yielded from self-control/self-regulation theory. A crucial distinction between self-control/self-regulation theories and an explanation based on moral emotions is that the former presumes a deficit (either ongoing or transient) in the offender, whereas the latter is encapsulated within a motivational balance model, which views the outcome as a result of an interplay between a number of competing motivations. This provides a much more satisfactory explanation for the amount of offending by people who “have” high self-control, while simultaneously helping explain the repetitive nature of chronic offenders.
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherGriffith University
dc.publisher.placeBrisbane
dc.rights.copyrightThe author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
dc.subject.keywordsChild sexual assualt
dc.subject.keywordsSexual offences against children
dc.subject.keywordsState Shame and Guilt Scale-Modified
dc.subject.keywordsSexual recidivism
dc.titleThe Role of Moral Emotions in the Onset and Progression of Child Sexual Offending
dc.typeGriffith thesis
gro.facultyArts, Education and Law
gro.rights.copyrightThe author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
dc.contributor.otheradvisorWortley, Richard
dc.rights.accessRightsPublic
gro.identifier.gurtIDgu1357535797529
gro.source.ADTshelfnoADT0
gro.source.GURTshelfnoGURT1358
gro.thesis.degreelevelThesis (PhD Doctorate)
gro.thesis.degreeprogramDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
gro.departmentSchool of Criminology and Criminal Justice
gro.griffith.authorParker, Richard John


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