Therapeutic Alliance with Juvenile Sexual Offenders: The Effects of Trauma Symptoms and Attachment Functioning

Therapeutic alliance is an influential predictor of successful treatment with transtheoretical capacity. The effectiveness of alliance has been evidenced with adult sex offenders and delinquent youth, but scholarship in this area is only burgeoning with youthful sexual offenders. Client-level variables unique to clinical context may influence the therapeutic alliance and research ought to delineate those factors among youthful sexual offenders. The present study incorporates variables unique to youthful sexual offenders in corrections facilities. Trauma symptoms and attachment patterns are measured among adjudicated male sex offenders (N = 332). The results reveal a significant relationship between youths’ attachment to peers and communication with fathers that positively predicts alliance and that trauma symptoms related to sexual victimization negatively predict alliance. Implications, future research, and treatment suggestions are provided.