Abstract
This study examined various relationships among men convicted of sexual offending and ethnicity, coping skills, stress, and ethnic identity. Most sex offender treatment is based upon a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model and focuses upon the development of coping skills. To date, however, there are no published studies that examine the coping skills of ethnic minorities despite evidence indicating that general treatment is more effective when cultural considerations are implemented. Thus, the current study utilized convenience sampling procedures to obtain 251 adult male participants who were convicted of at least one sex offense. The purpose of this study was to identify stress and coping skills of ethnic minority men and men from European American backgrounds convicted of a sex offense, to determine if there were differences within ethnic identity and coping skills. Results indicated that African Americans overall were more likely to utilize coping skills of religion and reframed stressors into positive terms than European Americans. African Americans and European Americans with greater ethnic identity achievement utilized greater religious coping and focused on the problem to cope; African Americans with greater ethnic identity achievement utilized greater restraint to cope and European Americans with greater ethnic identity achievement reframed stressors into positive terms. Additionally, this study examined factors that lead to increased stress. Limitations and directions for future research were also discussed.