The explanation of sexual offending: from single factor theories to integrative pluralism

Abstract

Theory formulation and development are crucial cognitive tasks in science and help to explain empirical findings and to guide future research. In this paper, I examine theory creation in the sexual offending domain and note that there is a sense in which the field has become somewhat stagnant. After reviewing the function of theories and explanatory strategies in psychopathology and the sex offending area, I make five suggestions for future development. First, I propose that we should endorse integrative pluralism as a theory-building strategy. Second, we need to shift our focus from construct validity procedures and look to understand underlying causal processes. Third, attention to individuals' experiences, values and beliefs should be a priority, and we ought not to regard this level of analysis as unworthy of research. Fourth, theorists should clearly describe the targets of their explanations prior to setting out theories and, ideally, before they start formulating them. Fifth, we ought to capitalise on the work already provided by seminal researchers in the field and not continually reinvent the wheel.

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