Sexual preferences among incestuous and nonincestuous child molesters (original) (raw)
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Sexual Abuse, 2006
This study compared the mean levels of sexual response to children produced by four groups of men with sexual offences against prepubescent girls and two comparison groups with other offences or no offences. All groups (N = 291) consisted of patients referred for clinical assessment of their sexual behavior or interests. Group assignment was determined by the victim's age and her relation to the patient: biological daughter; stepdaughter; other biologically related girl (e.g., sister, niece, granddaughter); unrelated girl; adult woman; and no known victim. The men with sexual offences had precisely one known victim each. The patients with offences may or may not have denied the act of which they were accused, but all patients denied an erotic preference for children. Sexual response to children was assessed by means of phallometric testing, a psychophysiological technique in which the individual's penile blood volume is monitored while he is presented with a standardized set...
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1991
Several suggestions have been offered by clinicians who work with sex offenders concerning etiological distinctions between incest offenders and extrafamilial child molesters. In this study we hypothesized that nonincestuous child molesters would have more sexual problems in general than would incestuous offenders. Ninety-five incest offenders and 127 nonincestuous child molesters were administered the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI), a self-report instrument. On the global Sexual Functioning Index the total sample of child molesters scored below the first percentile compared to the normative sample. In a direct discriminant analysis of the 10 subscales, satisfaction, fantasy, and experience were the principle variables discriminating between incestuous and nonincestuous offenders. Incest offenders were higher on experience and satisfaction and lower on fantasy. However, the discriminant analysis failed to yield clinically relevant distinctions between the sexual problems of extrafamilial and intrafamilial child molesters. DSFI scores for both groups indicated that their overall level of sexual functioning is poor relative to the general population.
A comparison of incest offenders based on victim age
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 2005
The purpose of the present study was to compare incest offenders (IOs) whose victims include infants or toddlers to IOs with adolescent victims on several variables commonly examined in the sexual offender literature. Participants were 48 men whose youngest victim was less than 6 years of age (younger-victim incest offenders; YVs); and 71 men whose youngest victim was 12 to 16 years of age (older-victim incest offenders (OVs). In general, YVs showed more emotional disturbance and pathology than OVs. Compared with OVs, YVs had a greater history of substance abuse and more current problems with alcohol. In addition, YVs reported significantly poorer sexual functioning and were significantly more psychiatrically disturbed. YVs were also more likely to have a male victim, to have victimized a nephew/niece or grandson/granddaughter, and to have denied their offense(s). It was evident that both the YVs and OVs demonstrated clinically significant difficulty with normal sexual functioning a...
Sexual Deviance and Number of Older Brothers Among Sexual Offenders
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 1998
A number of studies have shown that the probability that a man is homosexual increases with the number of older brothers (but not sisters) bom to his mother. This older brother effect suggests that a progressive maternal immunosensitization process is involved in producing homosexual preferences. A recent demonstration of the older brother effect in homosexual pedophilia raises the question of whether it is involved in other anomalous sexual preferences as well. In the present study, phallometric data were gathered from 29 child molesters, 38 rapists, and 11 individuals who had offended against both children and adults. In all groups, a phallometric index of sexual deviance (a relative preference for children or for coercive sex) was positively correlated with the offenders' number of older brothers (but not sisters). These results suggest that the maternal immunosensitization hypothesis may explain some variations in male sexual preferences.
… presented at the …, 2002
Theory suggests that childhood sexual victimization and other types of abuse may contribute to sexual offending through social-learning processes. In the present study, the link between negative childhood experiences and subsequent sexual offence characteristics and phallometrically assessed sexual preferences, was explored in a sample of 260 child molesters. Compared to offenders who were not sexually abused, offenders who reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse were significantly less likely to victimize female children. Offenders who reported being physically abused and experiencing family violence were more likely to use higher levels of violence in their index offences. Those who reported being physically abused and experiencing family violence were also significantly more likely to exhibit a sexual preference for child sexual abuse involving overt coercion. The results were generally consistent with social-learning theory and suggest a small but significant association of certain negative childhood experiences with offence characteristics and deviant sexual arousal.
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 26, 107-128.
To aid risk assessment, management, and treatment planning it is essential to assess child sexual abusers’ deviant sexual interests (DSI) and preferences (DSP) for sex with children. However, measurement of DSI/DSP is fraught with psychometric problems. In consequence, research interest has shifted to latency-based indirect measures as a measurement approach to complement self-report and physiological assessment. Utilizing the Explicit and Implicit Sexual Interest Profile (EISIP) – a multimethod approach consisting of self-report, viewing time, and Implicit Association Test (IAT) DSI/DSP measures – we replicated phallometric DSI/DSP differences between child sexual abuser subgroups in a sample of intrafamilial, extrafamilial, and child pornography offenders. DSI/DSP was associated with recidivism risk, offense-behavioral measures of pedophilic interest, and sexual fantasizing. It also negatively correlated with antisociality. Distinguishing between child sexual abuser subtypes and being related to recidivism risk, the EISIP is a useful tool for sexual offender assessments.
Sexual offenders against male children: Sexual preferences
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 1988
Erectile responses among men who had sexually abused male children were compared with the responses of matched non-offenders. Stimulus presentations included nude males and females of ages ranging from 3 to 24yr, and verbal descriptions of sexual interactions involving varying levels of intrusiveness and coercive behavior between an adult male and a boy. As a group, the child molesters
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
The relationship between deviant sexual arousal as measured by auditory phallometric stimuli, and psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised was examined in 156 incest offenders, 260 extrafamilial child molesters and 123 rapists. Replicating previous research, rapists were more psychopathic than incest offenders, and child molesters. Deviant sexual arousal to auditory stimuli was evident only on the Pedophile Index for child molesters. When the relationship between psychopathy and deviant sexual arousal was evaluated in the three groups combined several significant correlations emerged. However, a finer analysis of these correlations revealed that child molesters evidenced a significant correlation between psychopathy and the Rape Index and psychopathy and the Pedophile index. There were no such significant findings in the incest offender or rapist groups. Implications for offender management are discussed.
Behavior Therapy, 1975
Twenty male child molesters confined in a maximum sercurity psychiatric institution were compared with eleven non-sex offender patients from the same institution and ten persons from the community. Each subject was shown a total of 20 slides which were of persons varying in age and sex as well as neutral or nonperson slides. Penile circumference and skin conductance responses (PCRs and SCRs) to the slide stimuli were recorded. PCRs differentiated between the child molesters and "normals" but the SCRs did not. Subjects' rankings of the sexual attractiveness of the slides were similar in the "normal" and child molester groups. Correlations between the PCR, SCR, and ranking measures were low. PCRs varied with the child molesters' histories of victim choice.
Patterns of sexual arousal of accused child molesters involved in custody disputes
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1990
Penile plethysmography was used to examine sexual preferences of individuals accused of child molestation in the course of custody conflicts. Information regarding the alleged offenders, victims, and sex offense was gathered. In comparison to accused offenders who are not engaged in custody disputes, the subjects were more often accused of sexually abusing a younger child who was a biological relative. The source of accusations was usually the mother. Additionally, the custody-dispute subjects were less fikely to have a prior criminal history. Penile tumescence data suggested that the subjects involved in custody disputes were less sexually aroused by children than those subjects who were not involved in custody conflicts. However, the results revealed that in both groups a substantial number of subjects responded equally or more to the child stimuli. In sum, the alleged offenders involved in custody disputes appeared less deviant on several measures.