“…The tendency among men who have committed child sexual offenses to disagree less with statements indicative of cognitions that support sexual offending against children, rather than agreeing with them, was also observed in other studies (e.g., Arkowitz & Vess, 2003 ; Marshall, Marshall, Sachdev, & Kruger, 2003; Merdian, Curtis, Thakker, Wilson, & Boer, 2013). A potential explanation for this finding is that social desirability might influence respondents to hide their true beliefs, maybe to preserve their self-esteem (Gannon & Polaschek, 2005; Kolton, Boer, & Boer, 2001; Langevin, 1991). Given that the C-ISO did correlate somewhat with social desirability, it could be that this effect was at play here as well.…”