Assessing the Cognitive Distortions of Child Molesters and Rapists: Development and Validation of the MOLEST and RAPE Scales

Abstract

The cognitive distortions of sexual offenders are considered to be influential in the etiology and maintenance of deviant sexual behavior and are commonly accepted as valid predictors of treatment potential and success, despite the lack of systematic research to support these assumptions. Contributing to this gap in the research is the shortage of psychometrically sound assessment techniques to measure these cognitive distortions. The present paper describes the development and validation of two distinct measures, the MOLEST and RAPE Scales, designed to respectively assess the cognitive distortions of child molesters and rapists. Results indicate that the MOLEST and RAPE Scales are promising clinical and research measures, demonstrating strong internal consistency and reliability, convergent and discriminative validity, freedom from a socially desirable response bias, and utility in assessing the efficacy of a cognitive restructuring treatment component. Furthermore, sexual offenders' cognitive distortions as assessed by the MOLEST and RAPE Scales were found to be related to the number of victims and duration of sexually assaultive behavior.

Understanding Perpetrators of Nonphysical Sexual Coercion: Characteristics of Those Who Cross the Line

“…Participants reporting sexually coercive behavior differed signifi cantly from nonoffenders on each of the attitudinal/belief measures utilized in this study. Specifi cally, coercers reported a stronger belief in rape myths than did nonoffenders, as indicated by their responses on the Rape Scale (Bumby, 1996). In addition, coercive and nonoffending men differed signifi cantly on two of the Burt (1980) scales, Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence and Adversarial Sexual Beliefs.…”

“…RAPE Scale (Bumby, 1996). The 36-item RAPE Scale was developed to assess cognitive distortions associated with sexual offending (i.e., justifications, victim blame, attitudes towards women, belief in rape myths, etc.).…”

“…Other researchers have also found that angry and distrustful feelings towards women may be a factor in sexual aggression, though the results are mixed regarding sexual coercion (e.g., Abbey et al, 2001;Byers & Eno, 1991;Calhoun et al, 1997;Malamuth, Heavey, & Linz, 1993). In addition, studies of various negative attitudes toward women (e.g., Spence, Helrnreich, & St.app, 1973) and cognitive distortions associated with sexual offending (e.g., Bumby, 1996) have been linked to these behaviors with some consistency. Together, these studies suggest that a wide range of attitudes and beliefs may be integral to the etiology of sexual coercion.…”

Drogues du viol et agression sexuelle : perception de jeunes en milieu collégial1

“…Les principaux questionnaires qui en découlent sont encore utilisés (Burt, 1980 ;Bumby, 1996). Ces mythes accentuent les circonstances qui minimisent la portée de l'agression sexuelle.…”

Stopping rape

“…Programmes are generally didactic, that is, in the form of video and lecture presentations, although workshops and interactive theatre are sometimes used. Efficacy has been assessed by psychological attitude measures, such as the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale (Payne, 1999), the General Attitudes Towards Rape (GATR) scale (Larsen and Long, 1988), and the RAPE scale (Bumby, 1996). However, the effects of the programmes are debated.…”