Hostile Masculinity, Antisociality, and Sexual Deviance: Psychological Predictors among Convicted Sexual Offenders.

The global rise in sexual offences, particularly crimes against children, underscores the urgent need to identify psychological and behavioural mechanisms driving sexual deviance. This study investigated the role of age, education, hostile masculinity, and antisocial behaviour in predicting sexual deviance--including sexual sadism, sexual promiscuity, and sexual preoccupation--among convicted child sexual offenders. A correlational design was employed, using data from 88 life-imprisoned offenders across multiple prisons, with cases adjudicated between 2019 and 2022. Quota sampling ensured proportional geographic representation, and study tools were piloted for validity. Findings revealed that offenders were predominantly young adults with lower educational attainment, highlighting structural vulnerabilities. Hostile masculinity significantly and positively predicted all three domains of sexual deviance (R2 change = .05, .20, & .27, respectively), suggesting its central role in reinforcing coercive and exploitative sexual behaviours. Antisocial behaviour significantly predicted sexual promiscuity and sexual preoccupation (R2 change = .07 & .08 respectively), but not sexual sadism, indicating differentiated pathways of influence. These results emphasize that sexual deviance among offenders is shaped by both cognitive-attitudinal factors (hostile masculinity) and dispositional-behavioural traits (antisociality). The study concludes that targeted rehabilitation strategies, masculinity reorientation programs, and educational interventions are critical. Findings hold substantial policy implications, including enhancing prison-based therapy, refining offender risk assessment, and informing preventative frameworks to reduce child sexual offences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]