Factors Related to Clergy Sexual Misconduct

<p><em>Problem.</em> Clergy sexual misconduct creates credibility, marital, family, and financial problems in the general church. The purpose of this study was to determine, through a survey research methodology, personality and situational factors in the lives of active clergy that may be related to clergy sexual misconduct.</p> <p><em>Method</em>. Two hundred sixty-nine pastors filled out questionnaires pertaining to spiritual well-being, locus of control, burnout, social support, active pre-marital sexual conduct, erotic thoughts, naivete/lack of training, demographics, and sexual involvement with a non-spouse while in the ministry. Univariate, discriminant, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the influence of each variable on the incidence of sexual misconduct.</p> <p><em>Results</em>. Four significant factors predicted 14% of the variance of clergy sexual misconduct. The factors were: greater involvement in pre-marital sexual conduct, greater age, negative feelings of religious spiritual well-being, and perception of a lack of social support.</p> <p><em>Conclusions</em>. There are some factors that seem to influence a pastor's decision to become involved in sexual misconduct. The predictors are not definitive, however, and care must be taken not to draw definite conclusions from positive responses to the significant factors.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counseling Psychology, Ph.D.

Year

1996

Author dc:creator

• Totten, Donald L

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jimmy Kijai
• Lynn Millar
• Alfonso Valenzuela

• Ethics in Religion
• Religion

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/737

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.andrews.edu:dissertations-1736