Sexual offending is considered to be one of the most heinous of criminal acts, and countless researchers have generated theories to account for the etiology of sex offending in the hopes of differentiating those who exhibit sexual deviancy from those who do not. Typically, these etiological theories fall into one of the following groups: psychodynamic, attachment, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral, biological, and psychosocial theories. Although informative, the theories that encompass these

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... roupings are individual theories and typically non-inclusive of the others. As such, they are rarely sufficient to predict the occurrence of sexual offending outside of the context of one specific construct or trajectory. Integrative theories of sexual offending, on the other hand, take a wide-reaching and inclusive approach in the etiology of sexual behaviors. Two such theories are Ward and Beech's (2008) Integrated Theory of Sex Offending (ITSO) and Thakker and Ward's (2012) integrated framework for sexual reoffending. Unlike other theories, these two frameworks include a provision for sexual reoffending, though there is a lack of empirical tests of these theories, and integrative frameworks more generally, to date. Given the amount of attention that sexual offending and recidivism garners, an examination of such frameworks is warranted. iii Using a sample of adult male sex offenders released from New Jersey correctional facilities, the present dissertation study explored the prediction of an initial sex offense, as well as a sexual reoffense, within an integrative framework. The present study also examined the factors and temporal pathways involved in the prediction of non-sex recidivism. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling analysis were utilized. The results of the analyses provide limited support for the usefulness and real-world application of broad and comprehensive integrative theoretical frameworks in the prediction of sex offending and reoffending. However, integrative frameworks may have increased utility in the prediction of non-sex recidivism. The research implications of these findings and the directions for future research are discussed. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS