PII S0145-2134(98)00117-3 COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS AND BLAME ATTRIBUTION IN SEX OFFENDERS AGAINST ADULTS AND CHILDREN STEPHEN BLUMENTHAL Bracton Centre, Bexley Hospital, Kent, UK GISLI GUDJONSSON Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, UK JAN BURNS David Salomons Centre, Southborough, Kent, UK ABSTRACT Objective: Sexual offenders tend to hold attitudes and beliefs which minimize and justify their offending behavior. It was hypothesized that distorted thinking supporting sexual offending and blame attribution would differ depending on the offence characteristics of different groups of sexual offenders. Method: Two groups of sexual offenders separated on the basis of the age of their victims (sex offenders against children, 36; sex offenders against adults, 30) were compared on measures of cognitive distortions relating to sex with children and rape and a measure of blame attribution which assesses external, mental element, and guilt feeling attributions. Results: Child sexual offenders endorsed more cognitive distortions relating to sex with children, but there were no group differences in cognitive distortions relating to rape. Those who offended against adults reported more external attributions and child offenders reported more guilt feeling attributions. Mental element attribution related to alcohol intoxication and use of violence in the offence, but was not related to group differences. Conclusions: Results are interpreted as suggesting that child sex offenders support their offending by more enduring distorted cognitions, while those who offend against adults use blame attributions associated with the particular offence. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Key Words—Cognitive distortion, Blame attribution, Sex offending, Sex offender. INTRODUCTION THE NOTION THAT distorted thinking is central to sexual offending has received widespread professional attention. Despite this interest, research remains limited (Haywood, Grossman, Krav- itz, & Wasyliw, 1994; Segal & Stermac, 1990). Cognitive distortions are attitudes and beliefs which offenders use to deny, minimize and rationalize their behavior (Murphy, 1990). A fundamental assumption of cognitive-behavioral approaches is that these attitudes and underlying belief systems perform a major role in precipitating and maintaining sexual offending behavior (Abel, Received for publication February 11, 1998; final revision received June 8, 1998; accepted June 10, 1998. Reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. Stephen Blumenthal, Bracton Centre, Bexley Hospital, Old Bexley Lane, Kent DA5 2BW, UK. Pergamon Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 129 –143, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0145-2134/99/$–see front matter 129