City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2017 Understanding Resilience Strategies Among Minor-Attracted Individuals Allyson Walker The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2285 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] UNDERSTANDING RESILIENCE STRATEGIES AMONG MINOR-ATTRACTED INDIVIDUALS by ALLYSON WALKER A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 © 2017 ALLYSON WALKER All Rights Reserved ii Understanding Resilience Strategies among Minor-Attracted Individuals by Allyson Walker This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________ _______________________________________ Date Lila Kazemian Chair of Examining Committee _________________ _______________________________________ Date Deborah Koetzle Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Lila Kazemian Valli Rajah Karen Terry THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Understanding Resilience Strategies Among Minor-Attracted Individuals by Allyson Walker Advisor: Lila Kazemian The field of criminology generally assumes that attraction to minors is synonymous with sex offending. This erroneous and reductive assumption has led to a lack of exploration into the lives of individuals who are attracted to minors and who live their lives without offending. The lack of research on this topic reinforces the already overwhelming stigma against this population, and has limited our understanding of how individuals who are attracted to minors strategize to refrain from offending. This knowledge may also help others struggling with these attractions to remain resilient. This dissertation is a result of efforts to learn more about the population of minor- attracted persons (MAPs) who have not committed a sexual offense against a child. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 41 MAPs were completed between January and August of 2016. Topics of discussion during interviews included identity formation, coming out and facing stigma, coping emotionally with attractions, and motivations and strategies for refraining from offending. Analysis of the study data yielded complex relationships between strategies for maintaining resilience to offending and strategies for maintaining emotional resilience in the face of ever-present societal stigma. Often their strategies introduced additional risks to their physical or emotional health, especially when these strategies involved seeking the help and support of others. Seeking out support from friends and family involved distinct risks, including suspicion and rejection. Seeking the support of mental health practitioners exposed participants to additional risk to their wellbeing. Participants’ approaches to resilience, and the outcomes of these approaches, are explored, and implications are drawn for future research, policy, and practice. iv Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been completed without the help of many other individuals and groups who have supported me in my research process. Data collection and transcription was supported by two awards via John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center: a Doctoral Student Research Grant and the Arthur and Elaine Niederhoffer Memorial Fellowship. I am honored to receive this support, and I especially thank the Niederhoffer family for their interest in my research. Additional travel funding was supported by multiple awards from the Graduate Center, in order to present study findings at conferences. My dissertation committee offered me invaluable direction throughout both the development of my dissertation and my entire graduate school career. I cannot thank them enough. My chair, Lila Kazemian, provided enthusiasm for this project from the get-go, as well as extensive and excellent guidance and support through my dissertation process and my job market search. Valli Rajah gave me instrumental mentorship during my first year, as well as direction in qualitative methods. Karen Terry provided valuable advice that shaped my research proposal and interview guide. My external committee members, Cynthia Calkins and Patrick Lussier, were also influential in the design of my study and instrument. In addition to my committee members, I must also thank Amanda Geller, whose mentorship led me to apply to John Jay’s Ph.D. program, and Ashley Curl, who acted as this study’s on-call social worker and was a valuable sounding board during the data collection process. Numerous friends and loved ones have supported me throughout my dissertation process and my graduate school career. I would like to extend particular thanks to Vanessa Panfil, who is a constant source of joy and support in my life, and has provided me with a wealth of useful advice. Special thanks also must go to Shara Donohue and Zane Winey, who fed me and let me talk their ears off; to Lizzie and Rachel Hessek, who provided endless encouragement and let me rip out their floors in a moment of dissertation-related frustration; to Sarah Thompson and Kat Sobotka, for giving me a place to rest my head; and to Lisa Wilt, Rachel Weinstein, Reagan Copeland, Paula Billig, Vicky Tyrell, and Daniel and Lucy Sottile-Malone, for being incredible sources of brightness. I am very thankful as well for numerous other friends throughout Pennsylvania and New York, and particularly those at John Jay College, whose support and friendship have kept me sane throughout graduate school. I could not have completed this dissertation without you all. I would like to acknowledge most prominently my parents, Marcie and Frederick Walker, for their never-ending support, not only through my graduate school experience, but through my entire life. I also must thank my sister, Rachel Walker, for her encouragement (and particularly for the anti-Trump needlepoint she made me as a bribe for finishing my sixth dissertation chapter. I wrote that chapter in record time). Finally, I would like to thank the 41 individuals who granted me interviews during the course of this study. This dissertation is a result of their time and efforts to educate me about their lives and experiences. It is my most sincere wish to do them justice within these pages. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................1 Conceptualizing Attractions to Minors ...................................................................4 Dissertation Outline ................................................................................................7 Chapter 2: Existing Research on Minor-Attracted Persons ..........................................8 Origins of Attractions to Minors ..............................................................................8 Neurodevelopmental Explanations ..............................................................9 Genetics......................................................................................................11 Trauma Theory...........................................................................................12 MAPs and Sex Offending ......................................................................................13 Stigma toward MAPs .................................................................................15 A Theoretical Framework for Understanding MAP Resilience to Emotional Distress and Offending .........................................................................17 Emotional Resilience .................................................................................18 Resilience among LGBT Populations ............................................19 Resilience to Offending .............................................................................21 Self-Control Theory .......................................................................21 Labeling Theory .............................................................................22 Strategies for Maintaining Resilience to Offending ......................26 Summary ................................................................................................................29 Chapter 3: Research Methodology, Online Groups, and Sample Characteristics ....30 Objectives of the Current Study .............................................................................30 Online Groups: B4U-ACT and VirPed ..................................................................31 Data Collection and Analysis.................................................................................34 Sampling Strategy and Research Procedures .............................................34 Interviews: Procedures and Content ..........................................................39 Human Subjects Protections ......................................................................42 Method of Analysis ....................................................................................44 Sample Characteristics ...........................................................................................46