NCJ Number
195592
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 207-223
Date Published
July 2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the reliability and validity of a visual-reaction-time (VRT) measure of sexual interest (G.G. Abel, J. Huffman, B. Warberg, and C.L. Holland, 1998) and the penile plethysmograph (PPG) with audio stimuli.
Abstract
A sample of 57 sex offenders incarcerated at a high-security military prison completed physiological and self-report measures of sexual interest, including the VRT and the PPG. PPG assessments were conducted in compliance with standards set by the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, and VRT assessments were conducted in accordance with written and verbal instructions provided by Dr. Abel during VRT training sessions. The VRT uses a slide projector to present still images of models who are clothed (generally in swimsuits). There are 22 stimulus categories, with 7 slides in each category. Each participant met individually with an examiner, who instructed him on how to advance and rate the slides. After viewing each slide, participants viewed slides a second time, rating each on a scale from 1 (extremely sexually repulsive) to 7 (extremely sexually interesting). Without participants' knowledge, the computer recorded the time spent viewing and rating each slide, and data from the second viewing time were used in computing the z scores provided to users of the VRT. It is this "reaction time" that is hypothesized as indicating sexual interest. Results indicated adequate internal consistency for both measures. Convergent validity and an assessment of clinical usefulness for both measures indicated that both accurately identified offenders against young boys; the VRT, but not the PPG, significantly identified offenders against adolescent girls; neither measure reached statistical significance in identifying offenders against adult women; the VRT did not reach statistical significance in identifying offenders against young girls; and the PPG did reach statistical significance, but in the opposite direction, as was expected -- i.e., men with female child victims had significantly lower arousal to female child stimuli than did men in other victim choice categories. Thus, apparently both measures would benefit from improvement in identifying sexual interest in girls and sexual interest in adult rape. 8 tables and 23 references