title: Correlates of admitted sexual interest in children among individuals convicted of child pornography offenses.
abstract: Recent research on a risk assessment tool for child pornography offending suggests that admission of sexual interest in children is a risk factor for any sexual recidivism. Admission is easily vulnerable to lying, however, or to refusals to respond when asked about sexual interests. This may become a particular issue when individuals are concerned about the potential impact of admission of sexual interest on sentencing and other risk-related decisions. In this study, we identified the following behavioral correlates (coded yes/no) of admission of sexual interest in children in the risk tool development sample of 286 men convicted of child pornography offenses: (a) never married (54% of sample), (b) child pornography content included child sexual abuse videos (64%), (c) child pornography content included sex stories involving children (31%), (d) evidence of interest in child pornography spanned 2 or more years (55%), (e) volunteered in a role with high access to children (7%), and (f) engaged in online sexual communication with a minor or officer posing as a minor (10%). When summed, the average score on this Correlates of Admission of Sexual Interest in Children (CASIC) measure was 2.21 (SD = 1.22, range 0-6) out of a possible 6, and the CASIC score was significantly associated with admission of sexual interest in children, area under the curve (AUC) = .71, 95% CI [ .65, .77]. The CASIC had a stronger relationship with admission in a small cross-validation sample of 60 child pornography offenders, AUC = .81, 95% CI [.68, .95]. CASIC scores may substitute for admission of sexual interest in risk assessment involving those with child pornography offenses. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Health Care Group.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Sciences and Analysis Services, Ontario Provincial Police.
authors.forename: Angela W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Eke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003418:Criminology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004882:Erotica / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D000075665:Recidivism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors