Phallometric comparison of pedophilic interest in nonadmitting sexual offenders against stepdaughters, biological daughters, other biologically related girls, and unrelated girls

Abstract

This study compared the mean levels of sexual response to children produced by four groups of men with sexual offences against prepubescent girls and two comparison groups with other offences or no offences. All groups (N = 291) consisted of patients referred for clinical assessment of their sexual behavior or interests. Group assignment was determined by the victim's age and her relation to the patient: biological daughter; stepdaughter; other biologically related girl (e.g., sister, niece, granddaughter); unrelated girl; adult woman; and no known victim. The men with sexual offences had precisely one known victim each. The patients with offences may or may not have denied the act of which they were accused, but all patients denied an erotic preference for children. Sexual response to children was assessed by means of phallometric testing, a psychophysiological technique in which the individual's penile blood volume is monitored while he is presented with a standardized set of laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children and adults. The results indicated that the mean level of pedophilic response in men with offences against daughters or stepdaughters is intermediate between that in men with offences against otherwise-related or unrelated girls and that in men with no offences against girls at all.