Non-offending partners of those who Have sexually offended: relationship decision-making and others' attitudes

Because of their association with someone who has sexually offended, non-offending partners of those who have committed a sexual offence are severely affected by courtesy stigma. Whilst traditional streams of research have emphasised the importance of non-offending partners for desistance and safeguarding, and emerging literature has highlighted the traumatic consequences of stigmatisation, researchers and practitioners have thus far neglected this population. Specifically, the impact of the offence on their relationship with the person who has offended, and their role in the relationship decision-making process have been ignored.

To extend current knowledge of this understudied population, this thesis reports four studies that aimed to explore the experiences of non-offending partners, especially regarding their relationship decision-making. Using qualitative (i.e., Grounded Theory, content analysis) and quantitative (i.e., regression analysis, factor analysis) methods, this research assessed (a) the relationship decision-making process, (b) factors predicting relationship continuation, (c) non-offending partners' reasoning for their relationship decision, and (d) attitudes towards non-offending partners and their relationship decision.

Altogether, the findings suggest that, whilst relationship breakdown after an offence is common and the relationship decision is heavily influenced by the specific type of offence committed by their partner, the multitude of offence-related and -unrelated reasons for this decision mirror the heterogeneity of non-offending partners as a population. Here, one factor commonly influencing the relationship decision is others' attitudes towards the non-offending partner and their decision, which the final study of this thesis revealed as affecting relationship decision-making cyclically: Non-offending partners are not only influenced in their relationship decision by others' attitudes, but their relationship decision also impacts others' perceptions of them. These findings are discussed, alongside the limitations of this research, in light of their important theoretical and practical implications.