The Development and Validation of the Cognitions of Internet Sexual Offending (C-ISO) Scale

Abstract

Tools designed to measure the cognitions of individuals who engage in sexual activities with children over the Internet are either based on knowledge about men who had committed contact sexual offenses or cognitive phenomena not specifically associated to offending behaviors. Thus, there is no validated tool specifically designed to assess the offense-supportive cognitions of men who use the Internet to sexually offend children. This study developed and validated the Cognitions of Internet Sexual Offending (C-ISO) scale. A sample of 241 men with online and contact sexual as well as with nonsexual offenses completed the C-ISO scale and its psychometric properties, and latent structure was analyzed using both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT), resulting in a final version containing 31 items. The analyses indicate that the C-ISO has excellent psychometric properties and discriminates men with online sexual offenses from those with contact sexual and nonsexual offenses. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

A Billion Distorted Thoughts: An Exploratory Study of Criminogenic Cognitions Among Men Who Sexually Exploit Children Over the Internet

“…Finally, they have good external validity as they correlated with widely recognized cognitive scales (e.g., Paquette & Cortoni, 2019). Our results show, however, that although cognitive themes have been described as intimately related to sexual offending and show good validity in many areas, their criminogenic nature remains uncertain.…”

“…Furthermore, they have good content validity as they adequately reflect problematic behaviors and thinking in the discourse of men who sexually offend, are supported by a strong theoretical background and by good empirical research protocols, and present interesting construct validity. Finally, they have good external validity as they correlated with widely recognized cognitive scales (e.g., Paquette & Cortoni, 2019). Our results show, however, that although cognitive themes have been described as intimately related to sexual offending and show good validity in many areas, their criminogenic nature remains uncertain.…”

“…Previous studies have found several themes in the discourse of men who sexually offend and it has been suggested that these themes are related to specific offenses (e.g., Bartels & Merdian, 2016; Longpré & Cortoni, 2019; Paquette, 2018). For example, men with contact sexual offenses against children were found to exhibit cognitions related to their victims, whereas those with online offenses exhibit cognitions related to their use of the Internet (Paquette & Cortoni, 2019). Results from this study are consistent with these findings, as Child as sexual being was found associated with the offline direct victimization of child victims and more frequent among men who engage in child sexual solicitation than among CSEM users.…”

“…In previous studies, men who engage in online sexual offenses against children were found to exhibit fewer offense-supportive cognitions than those who engage in contact sexual offenses against children (Babchishin et al, 2015), but only when assessed using tools developed among men with contact offenses. When assessed using a tool specifically designed to measure online sexual offense–supportive cognitions, men with online offenses against children were found to exhibit more offense-supportive cognitions than those with contact sexual or nonsexual offenses (Paquette & Cortoni, 2019). This suggests that the assessment of offense-supportive cognitions should to be conducted using tools designed to reflect the exact cognitive contents of different sexual offending subgroups.…”

Why internet users’ perceptions of viewing child exploitation material matter for prevention policies

“…But this research has a major limitation in terms of understanding the experience of onset. While it provides some support for the contention that beliefs about CEM offending may be relevant to the experience of onset, and that some CEM-viewers endorse such beliefs (albeit perhaps at a low level, see further Paquette & Cortoni, 2019), it reveals little about whether such beliefs are present prior to onset. Cognisant of this limitation, and informed by the argument that accidental exposure and easy access is leading otherwise ‘normal’ white men to deliberately view CEM online, this paper argues that the perceptions of ordinary internet users offer a way to address this limitation.…”