Unraveling Sexual Associations in Contact and Noncontact Child Sex Offenders Using the Single Category – Implicit Association Test

Abstract

Previous studies found associations between children and sex in child sex offenders (CSOs) using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). We used a modification of this task, the Single Category-Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) to unravel child-sex associations in CSOs. Using the SC-IAT, we were able to test whether CSOs indeed hold stronger child-sex associations relative to adult-sex associations, compared to adult sex offenders and nonoffenders. Furthermore, we examined whether contact CSOs differed from noncontact CSOs in their child-sex associations. The hypothesis that CSOs would have stronger child-sex associations, relative to their adult-sex associations, than adult sex offenders and nonoffenders was confirmed. No difference between contact CSOs and noncontact CSOs was found. Although the Sex SC-IAT was able to distinguish CSOs from nonoffenders, the sensitivity and specificity of the test was poor (AUC of .65) and needs refinement. The results of this study support the existence of a child-sex association as a distinctive characteristic of CSOs. These findings are discussed in the context of theories on deviant cognitions in CSOs and risk for sexual offending.

The impact of explicit and implicit teacher beliefs on reports of inclusive teaching practices in Scotland

“…This uses a similar procedure as the original IAT but differs in that only one target category is used. The reliability and validity of the ST-IAT has previously been supported (Bluemke & Friese, 2008;Conroy, Hyde, Doerksen, & Riberio, 2010;Hempell, Buck, Goesthals, & van Marle, 2012;Wilson & Scior, 2015). In the current study, split-half coefficients (.76) and Cronbach's alpha values using D scores (α=.82) demonstrated reliability.…”

Are Child Abusers Sexually Attracted to Submissiveness? Assessment of Sex-Related Cognition With the Implicit Association Test

“…The IAT has good predictive validity in various domains of psychopathology (Roefs et al, 2011) and is relatively resistant to deliberate faking (Cvencek, Greenwald, Brown, Gray, & Snowden, 2010; Steffens, 2004). Moreover, previous studies have successfully demonstrated the ability of the IAT to accurately characterize the sexual interest of child abusers; results indicate that child abusers more strongly associate “children” and “sex” (or “sexual” or “sexy”) than do other types of offenders (Gray, Brown, MacCulloch, Smith, & Snowden, 2005; Hempel, Buck, Goethals, & van Marle, 2013; Nunes, Firestone, & Baldwin, 2007; Steffens, Yundina, & Panning, 2008). Brown, Gray, and Snowden (2009) even showed that child–sex associations can be used to reliably distinguish pedophilic offenders (who victimize children <12 years of age) from hebephilic offenders (who victimize youths aged 12-15 years).…”

Implicit attitudes toward violence and their relation to psychopathy, aggression, and socially adaptive behaviors in forensic psychiatric inpatients

“…Eckhardt et al, 2012;Gray, Brown, MacCulloch, Smith, & Snowden, 2005;Hempel, Buck, Goethals, & van Marle, 2013;Kanters et al, 2014;Snowden et al, 2004;Van Leeuwen et al, 2013). During this computerized task, patients have to assign target stimuli (either a word or a picture) as quickly as possible to the appropriate target by pressing a left or a right button.…”