title: Exploring clinical and personality characteristics of adult male internet-only child pornography offenders.
abstract: Despite the dramatic increase in the number of convicted child pornography offenders, little is known about their potential clinical needs. The few studies that do explore this subgroup of sex offenders suggest clinical heterogeneity compared with other sex offender subgroups. However, research designs used in many studies have limited generalizability, have examined primarily treated or treatment samples, and have not included comparisons with nontreatment, community samples of men. The current study addresses such limitations by using nontreatment samples and multiple comparison groups to examine mean scales score differences on a commonly used clinical and personality assessment, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). The sample, drawn from an admissions cohort of federal offenders, those Internet-only Child Pornography Offenders (ICPOs; n = 35) and those with a history of child molesting exclusively (child molesters, n = 26). They were compared with each other and the male normative sample from the PAI. Results indicate that interpersonal deficits and depression featured most prominently in the profiles of the ICPOs. Consistent with prior research, they also obtained lower scores on aggression and dominance compared with the child molesters and the male normative sample. Implications for future research, training, and clinical practice with incarcerated ICPOs are offered.
authors.affiliation: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Magaletta
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Faust
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bickart
authors.forename: Alix M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McLearen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual; D004882:Erotica; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*