Antisocial Behavior Trajectories of Adolescents and Emerging Adults With Histories of Sexual Aggression

Objective: The development of antisocial behavior among youths with histories of sexual aggression was examined. Method: Participants were 1,725 youths and their parents who were part of an ongoing, prospective longitudinal study that followed youths from early adolescence (11 to 17 years of age) through emerging adulthood (18 to 27 years of age). Individual youths completed a self-report delinquency measure in seven waves of the study. Of the participants, 131 individuals reported committing at least one sexually aggressive act across the seven waves, and 605 individuals reported committing at least one serious nonsexual antisocial act (e.g., physical assault, robbery) but no sexual aggression during the study. Results: A growth mixture modeling approach revealed three antisocial behavior trajectories (i.e., low, moderate, and chronic) and indicated that individuals with a history of sexual aggression (i.e., sexual perpetrators) generally did not have different antisocial behavior trajectories during adolescence and emerging adulthood than did individuals with histories of serious nonsexual antisocial behavior (i.e., nonsexual perpetrators). Moreover, similar proportions of sexual perpetrators and nonsexual perpetrators were found on each of the three trajectories. Conclusions: These findings suggest that sexual perpetrators are not a homogeneous population and that the development of problem sexual behavior is generally similar to the development of other serious antisocial behaviors. These findings also suggest that treatments that have demonstrated effectiveness with delinquent youth in general may be successful with sexually aggressive youth in particular.