Date

5-22-2024

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Richard Green

Keywords

Clergy Sexual Misconduct

Disciplines

Adult and Continuing Education | Counseling

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and be able to describe the factors involved in what motivates and participates person of the clergy to engage in watching pornography or engaging in sexually immoral behavior. The theories guiding this study was a biopsychosocial approach introduced by Dr. George Engel and attachment theory by John Bowlby, as it explains how a person shows a proclivity toward immoral SAOB. Interviews were designed to investigate what experiences and actions were antecedents to clergy persons viewing pornography and engaging in extramarital sexual behavior. This transcendental phenomenological study aimed to understand the driving forces behind the behavior of clergy members whose core values and beliefs contradict SAOB. The problem of clergy sexual misconduct is daunting, just in terms of the sheer number of pastors likely caught up in its grasp. I investigated what situations or stressors contributed to them maintaining the SAOB. Clergy developed a pathological relationship with a mood-altering experience that grew into a dysfunctional coping mechanism. Clergy developed insecure attachments, experienced marital issues and ministry stress that contributed to their SAOB. The research showed what factors contributed to clergy maintaining SAOB. The final aspect of clergy sexual misconduct (CSM) revealed that recovery began when the clergy members were exposed.

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