Treatment effectiveness for male adolescent sexual offenders: a meta-analysis and review

Research concerning the treatment of sexual offenders has generally focused on the treatment of adult offenders. The effectiveness of treatments for male adolescent sexual offenders (N = 644) was assessed in a meta-analysis of 10 studies. Overall, the results were surprisingly encouraging, suggesting that treatments for male adolescent sexual offenders appear generally effective (r = .37). Studies which used self-report measures of outcome obtained a 6% higher effect size than studies which used measures of arousal in response to deviant stimuli, and a 22% higher effect size than studies using actual recidivism rates. A descriptive review of the set of 10 studies indicates that studies utilizing cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches were the most effective.