Are Sex Offending Allegations Viewed Differently? Exploring the Effect of Offense Type and Conviction Status on Criminal Stigmatization.

Attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions play a major role in the formation of legislative action, including sentencing policies and registration and notification procedures. However, there is little research about stigmatization directed at those who are accused of such offenses prior to conviction. In this work we explored this gap by comparing stigmatization (e.g., a desire for social distance, and negative personality attributions) towards people accused of a range of crimes (sexual, violent, and acquisitive), and whether this was further impacted by whether or not allegations led to a conviction. We recruited 403 community-based participants for a between-subjects experimental survey. We found support for the conclusion that people accused of and convicted for sexual offenses are more heavily stigmatized than allegations related to other crime types, and especially so when allegations involved child victims. Stigmatization took the form of greater levels of support for police-initiated notifications about allegations before conviction, increased desires for social distance, and attributions of negative personality traits. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these findings in relation to stigma research and issues related to anonymity for those accused of sexual offenses.

Understanding Social Judgments of and Proclivities to Commit Upskirting.

Against a backdrop of legislative change that sees the taking of private sexual images underneath the clothing of a non-consenting other being made a criminal offence - upskirting - there is a need to understand the public's judgments of and motivations to perpetrate said behavior. In this study (N = 490), we investigated whether judgments of upskirting differed as a function of the sex of the person who was upskirted (male, female) and their perceived attractiveness (attractive, unattractive), as well as how variation in voyeuristic interest, belief in a just world, and dark personality traits predicted judgments of and proclivity to engage in upskirting. We consistently observed more lenient judgments of upskirting behavior when the person who was upskirted was attractive and male, with such judgements predicted by older age across all conditions. Moreover, proclivity to engage in upskirting was predicted by past voyeuristic behaviors, higher psychopathic personality, and being male and of older age. We discuss our findings in the context of needing to qualitatively understand the rationale underpinning these judgments, combating barriers to disclose victimization, and practitioner implications.

Fantasy Sexual Material Use by People with Attractions to Children.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: With the Internet allowing consumers easy access to fantasy and fictional sexual materials (FSM), it is becoming increasingly important to understand the context of their use among specific populations. Of particular, social, clinical, and legal interest is FSM use by people who are attracted to children and whether this may have a risk-enhancing or protective impact on their likelihood of committing a contact or non-contact sexual offence. RECENT FINDINGS: There is a lack of data currently available in relation to the use of FSM by those with sexual attractions to children. Evidence from allied areas appears to show no meaningful associations between FSM use and sexual aggression. We propose a novel research program and some initial research questions that provide a theoretical framework for more evidence-based inquiry on FSM use by people who experience attractions to children.

Identifying and working with appropriate treatment targets with people who are sexually attracted to children.

Research has shown that people within society experience sexual attractions to children, and a substantial number of these seek support related to this. However, professional practices around working with minor-attracted persons (MAPs) are variable. Clinicians possess low levels of knowledge about this population and are unclear about the correct treatment goals. In this work we explored the prioritization of different treatment goals by MAPs (n = 150), before investigating the demographic, sexuality-related, and psychological predictors of treatment target prioritization. Self-compassion drove many treatment targets among MAPs. We offer recommendations about how professionals might work collaboratively and effectively with this population.

Ideological responses to the breaking of COVID-19 social distancing recommendations.

COVID-19 has plagued the globe since January 2020, infecting millions and claiming the lives of several hundreds of thousands (at the time of writing). Despite this, many individuals have ignored public health guidance and continued to socialize in groups. Emergent work has highlighted the potential role that ideology plays in such behavior, and judgements of it. In response to this contemporary cultural phenomenon, we tested whether judgements of those allegedly flouting the guidance on social distancing were influenced by an interaction between the ideologies of those providing judgements and those allegedly breaking the rules. Our data suggest that judgements of those flouting social distancing guidance are influenced by ideology in a symmetrical way. That is, both liberals and conservatives condemn outgroup flouting more than ingroup flouting. We discuss this finding in the context of theoretical work into ideological symmetries, and the implications of growing ideological polarization in contemporary Western democracies.

Development and Validation of the Beliefs About Revenge Pornography Questionnaire.

The non-consensual sharing of private sexual images (so-called 'revenge pornography') has become an increasingly prominent topic in social and legislative discussions about sexual crime but has received relatively little attention within psychological research. Here, we leveraged existing theorizing in the area of sexual offending proclivity to systematically develop and validate a measure of beliefs about this type of offending. There is currently a lack of validated assessment tools in this area, and these are important to better understand the role of offense-supportive cognition in predicting both proclivity of these offenses and judgements of both victims and perpetrators. Using an international community sample (N = 511) we found our 'Beliefs about Revenge Pornography Questionnaire (BRPQ)' to be comprised of four underpinning domains: 'Victims as Promiscuous', 'Victim Harm', 'Avoiding Vulnerable Behaviors' and 'Offense Minimization'. Concurrent validity is demonstrated through relationships with trait empathy, belief in a just world, dark personality traits and rape myth acceptance. Randomly dividing the sample, we also show that the BRPQ was associated with both proclivity (n = 227) and social judgements of this type of offending (n = 232). Implications and future directions are discussed. An open-access preprint is available at https://psyarxiv.com/6qr7t/.

A Multi-Perspective Qualitative Study About Working With Autistic Individuals in Prison-Based Interventions to Address Sexual Offending.

Research suggests that sexual offending is one of the more common forms of offending behaviour committed by autistic individuals. Despite this, very little research has investigated approaches to rehabilitation for autistic individuals who have sexually offended. The small body of literature that does exist suggests that interventions to address sexual offending may not be sufficiently adapted for this group. In this paper we present an exploratory qualitative study that (i) explores how prison-based interventions to address sexual offending are experienced by autistic individuals with sexual offense convictions and the staff who work with them, and (ii) identifies and explores the features of prison-based sexual offending interventions that may be challenging or beneficial for autistic individuals, from the perspective of those involved in treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 autistic men serving prison sentences for sexual convictions, and 13 members of prison staff. A multi-perspective phenomenologically-informed thematic (MPT) analysis identified three themes of 'Feeling overwhelmed', 'Out of the comfort zone', and '(Dis)connected to others'. These themes highlight some of the key issues relating to the format and delivery of interventions, as well as the impact of the broader prison context on rehabilitation.

Exploring the Ownership of Child-Like Sex Dolls.

There is a fervent social debate ongoing that relates to the ownership of child-like sex dolls. On the one hand, some proponents of dolls suggest that they offer a safe sexual outlet for minor-attracted people (MAPs) and could be used in efforts to prevent the sexual abuse of children. On the other side of the debate, child-like dolls are seen as articles that sexualize children, encourage deviant fantasies, and increase offending risk. To date, no empirical analyses have been undertaken with people who own such dolls. In this paper, we present data from child-like sex doll owners (n = 85) and MAPs who do not own dolls (n = 120) recruited from online forums visited by people who own sex dolls or forums for people with sexual attractions to children. Specifically, we compared their psychological characteristics and proclivities for sexual aggression. Among non-owners, 79.2% of participants declared an interest in owning a sex doll, which is higher than the 20-40% rate reported in adult-attracted samples of non-owners. We found few differences between the groups on most personality variables, with doll owners being less antisocial and anxiously attached than non-owners, but exhibiting more schizotypal traits. Related to offending proclivities, doll ownership was associated with lower levels of sexual preoccupation and self-reported arousal to hypothetical abuse scenarios, but higher levels of sexually objectifying behaviors and anticipated enjoyment of sexual encounters with children. We discuss these data in relation to a functional model of child-like sex doll ownership among MAPs.

Humanizing Pedophilia as Stigma Reduction: A Large-Scale Intervention Study.

The stigmatization of people with pedophilic sexual interests is a topic of growing academic and professional consideration, owing to its potential role in moderating pedophiles' emotional well-being, and motivation and engagement in child abuse prevention schemes. Thus, improving attitudes and reducing stigmatization toward this group is of paramount importance. Prior research has suggested that narrative humanization-presenting personal stories of self-identified non-offending pedophiles-could be one route to doing this. However, this work has only been conducted with students or trainee psychotherapists, meaning the public generalizability of this method is still unknown. In this study, we compared two stigma interventions to test whether narratives reduce stigma toward people with pedophilic interests more effectively than an informative alternative (scientific information about pedophilia). Using a longitudinal experimental design with a lack of non-intervention control (initial N = 950; final N = 539), we found that narratives had consistently positive effects on all measured aspects of stigmatization (dangerousness, intentionality), whereas an informative alternative had mixed results, and actually increased perceptions of pedophiles' levels of deviance. These effects were still present four months after the initial presentation. We discuss these data in relation to ongoing debates about treating pedophilia as a public health issue requiring a broad societal approach to well-being and child abuse prevention.

Primary Health Professionals' Beliefs, Experiences, and Willingness to Treat Minor-Attracted Persons.

There is a desire and need among minor-attracted persons (MAPs) to access support within the community, and this often begins with an approach to healthcare providers working in general medical/mental health settings. However, little is known about the experiences of these non-specialist professionals in relation to their beliefs, knowledge, and decision-making processes when working with patients who disclose sexual attractions to children. Using an online survey, this study explored the knowledge, comfort, competence, and treatment willingness of 220 non-specialist healthcare providers when faced with patients who disclose sexual attractions to children. We investigated how often such disclosures were made, clinician stigma, treatment priorities, and professionals' willingness to report MAPs to external agencies because of their sexual attractions. Some key differences were found when comparing primary medical vs. mental health professionals, including increased likelihood to view MAPs as dangerous, unable to control behaviors and that sexual attractions are an avoidable choice, in the former group. Both groups prioritized mental health treatment targets above controlling attractions and living with stigmatized attractions, although controlling or changing attractions were still relatively high priorities. Results indicated a need for further training, focusing on increasing comfort around working with MAPs, as this was associated with a greater willingness to work with this group. We identify current gaps in service provision for MAPs seeking professional support and discuss recommendations for professional training.

The Effect of Attitudes Towards Individuals with Sexual Convictions on Professional and Student Risk Judgments.

Attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions is an area with growing research interest, but the effects of such attitudes on professional judgments is largely unexplored. What is known from the existing literature is that attitudes guide the interpretation of sexual crime related information, which cascade into potential biased or heuristically driven judgments. In this study we recruited samples of both students (n = 341) and forensic professionals (n = 186) to explore whether attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions predicted risk judgments of hypothetical sexual offense scenarios, and whether this relationship is moderated by professional status or perpetrator characteristics. Forensic professionals expressed more positive attitudes overall, but the significant effect of attitudes on risk judgments was consistent between participant groups and was not moderated by perpetrator age or sex. We suggest that relying on attitudes as a basis for risk judgments opens the door to incorrect (and potentially dangerous) decision-making and discuss our data in terms of their potential clinical implications. An open-access preprint of this work is available at https://psyarxiv.com/rjt5h/.

Intrasexual Competition as a Predictor of Women's Judgments of Revenge Pornography Offending.

Recent legislative developments have led to a marked increase in the empirical investigation of motivations and judgments of so-called acts of "revenge pornography" offending. In two independently sampled studies, we used moderation analyses to investigate whether higher levels of intrasexual competition predicted more lenient judgments of revenge pornography offenses as a function of sex (Study 1, N = 241), and whether such relationships would be further moderated by physical attractiveness (Study 2, N = 402). Potential covariates of callous-unemotional traits, empathy, and victimization history were controlled for. Opposing our hypotheses, we consistently observed a trend for higher levels of intrasexual competition being associated with more lenient judgments of revenge pornography offenses involving male victims by female participants. The results are discussed in terms of intrasexual competition potentially sharing variance with unobserved constructs in the wider sexological literature, and of the key relevance of these findings for future empirical investigation into judgments of nonconsensual image-based offending.

Development of an Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ): Are most people really social addicts?

A growing number of self-report measures aim to define interactions with social media in a pathological behavior framework, often using terminology focused on identifying those who are 'addicted' to engaging with others online. Specifically, measures of 'social media addiction' focus on motivations for online social information seeking, which could relate to motivations for offline social information seeking. However, it could be the case that these same measures could reveal a pattern of friend addiction in general. This study develops the Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ) by re-wording items from highly cited pathological social media use scales to reflect "spending time with friends". Our methodology for validation follows the current literature precedent in the development of social media 'addiction' scales. The O-FAQ had a three-factor solution in an exploratory sample of N = 807 and these factors were stable in a 4-week retest (r = .72 to .86) and was validated against personality traits, and risk-taking behavior, in conceptually plausible directions. Using the same polythetic classification techniques as pathological social media use studies, we were able to classify 69% of our sample as addicted to spending time with their friends. The discussion of our satirical research is a critical reflection on the role of measurement and human sociality in social media research. We question the extent to which connecting with others can be considered an 'addiction' and discuss issues concerning the validation of new 'addiction' measures without relevant medical constructs. Readers should approach our measure with a level of skepticism that should be afforded to current social media addiction measures.

Sex Doll Ownership: An Agenda for Research.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The topic of sex doll ownership is becoming an increasingly discussed issue from both a social and legal perspective. This review aims to examine the veracity of the existing psychological, sexological, and legal literature in relation to doll ownership. RECENT FINDINGS: Strong views exist across the spectrum of potential socio-legal positions on sex doll ownership. However, there is an almost total lack of empirical analyses of the psychological characteristics or behavioral implications of doll ownership. As such, existing arguments appear to represent the philosophical positions of those scholars expressing them, rather than being rooted in any objective evidence base. Despite an absence of empirical data on the characteristics and subsequent effects of doll ownership, discussions about the ethical and legal status of doll ownership continue. This highlights a real and urgent need for a coherent research agenda to be advanced in this area of work.

The Internalization of Social Stigma Among Minor-Attracted Persons: Implications for Treatment.

In this article, we sought to build on existing stigmatization research by examining the extent to which internalized stigmatization (i.e., the personal adoption and incorporation of social views, operationalized as thought suppression-an avoidant coping strategy-and low psychological well-being) among minor-attracted persons (MAPs) may impact upon help-seeking behaviors and their avoidance of children. We adopted a cross-sectional anonymous survey design to recruit a sample of self-identified MAPs (N = 183) from prominent online support fora. We found that increased levels of suppression and lower levels of psychological well-being were associated with lower levels of hope about the future, but higher levels of both shame and guilt about having a sexual interest in minors. Thought suppression was not significantly associated with outcomes related to help-seeking behaviors, but did significantly predict higher rates of actively avoiding children, even after controlling for psychological well-being and other emotional variables. Independently, lower levels of self-reported psychological well-being were associated with a desire for more support and higher rates of actively avoiding children. We explore the potential implications of our data in relation to treating and supporting MAPs within the community, increasing their well-being, and encouraging help-seeking behavior.

Dispositional Disinhibition and Alcohol Use Disorders: Personality, Risk Appraisal and Problematic Alcohol Consumption.

Background: The relationship between psychopathic personality and problematic alcohol consumption could be important for understanding risk and potential interventions. This existing work on psychopathy and alcohol abuse is typically conducted in criminal and hospitalized populations and little attention has been paid to investigating the general populations' psychopathic personality and problematic consumption of alcohol. The psychopathy-focused Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and the more general Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality (RST) focus on individual differences related to low self-control and sensation seeking, and could relate to problematic alcohol consumption in non-forensic samples. The current study brings together RST and psychopathic personality traits to predict alcohol use disorders. We hypothesize that impulsivity and anxiety predict problematic alcohol consumption and related risk appraisal. Methods: We analyzed data from a sample of 349 general population participants who had completed measures of the TriPM, RST, alcohol use disorders (AUDIT), and their perceived negative outcomes of high risk behavior with the Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events (CARE) measure. Results: We find some evidence that TriPM's disinhibition and RST's anxious personality traits relate to AUDIT scores. We find limited evidence that personality traits predict the negative appraisal of risky events, but alcohol use was related to increased perceptions of the negative outcomes of alcohol consumption. Conclusions: Overall this study shows that individual differences do relate to problematic alcohol consumption but not the appraisal of risks related to alcohol consumption. This has implications for the structuring of intervention for those at-risk of problematic consumption of alcohol.

Data Linkage: Cleft Live-Birth Prevalence and Hospitalizations in Western Australia: 1980 to 2016.

OBJECTIVE: To provide information on live-birth prevalence and hospitalizations, including anxiety and depression, for cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in Western Australia (WA), using live-birth data 1980 to 2015. DESIGN: Retrospective data linkage. SETTING: Tertiary hospital. PATIENTS: Cleft cohort consisted of people live-born with CL/P in WA between 1980 and 2015, and a gender and age-matched control group. MEASURES: Live-birth prevalence for CL/P by year. Hospital event counts, event ages, and length of stay (LOS) days by 18 diagnosis groups and 4 birth year categories between the cleft cohort and control group, and between cleft types. Count of events per alive persons per calendar year, and relative risk for proportions of persons in the cleft cohort and control group by diagnosis group. RESULTS: Live-birth prevalence for CL/P was 19.7 per 10 000 (1 in 522). The cleft cohort had significantly higher event counts, lower event ages, and higher LOS days than the control group. Cleft lip and palate had significantly higher event counts, lower event ages, and higher LOS days than cleft lip or cleft palate only. There were 2 significant differences for anxiety or depression between the cleft cohort and control group, lower event ages, and higher LOS days in 1990s birth year category. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a cleft data reference for WA. Live-birth prevalence for all clefts and by cleft type offers an appropriate method for estimating service utilization and provision. Patients with cleft accessed hospital services more frequently, at an earlier age, with higher LOS days than the control group.

Excusing and Justifying Rape Cognitions in Judgments of Sexually Coercive Dating Scenarios.

According to recent analyses, Bumby's RAPE scale of rape-supportive cognitions about women and sexual assault comprises two factors. Excusing rape serves to reduce abusers' culpability for their offending, and ascribing blame to victims, while justifying rape is associated with a sense of sexual entitlement. The distinct effects of these factors on rape judgments have not yet been investigated. We examined whether these belief clusters differentially explained judgments of perpetrator innocence after priming cues related to each of them. We used a cross-sectional design (N = 217) to test our hypotheses. As predicted, we found that excusing rape cognitions contributed to exaggerated innocence judgments when the victim paid the bill on a first date (potentially indicative of romantic or sexual interest). However, contrary to expectations, there was no evidence that participants justified rape when the perpetrator paid the bill. Implications for conceptualizing the functions of rape-supportive cognitions are discussed.

Development of a 21-item short form of the Attitudes to Sexual Offenders (ATS) Scale.

The Attitudes to Sexual Offenders scale (ATS; Hogue, 1993) is one of the most widely used measurement instruments for assessing views about sexual offenders. The ATS has been used in a variety of contexts, most commonly in comparing forensic professionals and nonprofessionals in relation to their views about this population. This article offers a review of the methods used to examine attitudes toward sexual offenders currently available, before systematically outlining the validation of a 21-item shortened version of the ATS measure (the ATS-21). First, we analyzed the ATS with regards to its underlying factor structure using a general community sample (Study 1; n = 188). This identified three factors: trust, intent, and social distance. We subsequently supported this structure through confirmatory factor analysis in a new community sample (Study 2; n = 335) and Hogue's (1993) original ATS development data (Study 3; n = 170) in order to provide further evidence of its reliability. We also offer preliminary evidence of the ATS-21's test-retest reliability, consistency across multiple testing contexts, resistance to social desirability, and independence from related measures (Study 4; n = 59). We close by recommending the use of the ATS-21 for researchers examining attitudes toward sexual offenders and offer suggestions for a new unified research design to incorporate the ATS-21 into emerging research into the psychological underpinnings of attitudes and responses to sexual offenders. We offer open data at https://osf.io/ymhsw/ and open scoring resources for the ATS-21 at https://osf.io/34hsx/. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Psychosocial Impact of Cleft in a Western Australian Cohort Across 3 Age Groups.

BACKGROUND: Management of a cleft of the lip and/or palate (CL/P) involves a multidisciplinary team approach lasting from birth to potentially postskeletal maturity. This condition is complex, with both medical and psychosocial implications that may place individuals with a cleft at higher risk of developing psychosocial problems. METHODOLOGY: A self-administered questionnaire was completed by a sample from the Western Australian cleft population comprising 3 age groups: child (n = 100), adolescent (n = 101), and adult (n = 158). RESULTS: Public speaking, being photographed, special relationships, and participation in school were identified as the areas most impacted by having a cleft. Hearing and speech were reported to have a higher importance than facial and dental appearance. Participants rated support given to them by their parents as the most important, with high ratings for treatment providers. For teasing, the impact of cleft was significantly higher among participants with cleft lip and palate for both the adolescent and adult age groups. There was little significant difference by gender across the variables, which suggests that males are just as likely to require support as females. CONCLUSION: The impact of a cleft across multiple psychosocial domains needs to be recognized and addressed as part of craniofacial team care across age groups.