Child Molesters

Abstract

Although a variety of cognitions are thought to be associated with men who engage children in sexual activities, the extent to which these cognitive factors are specific to molesters has yet to be determined. In this study, incestuous molesters, extrafamilial molesters, rapists, incarcerated nonsexual offenders, and laypersons were compared on cognitive distortions, fear of negative evaluation, and cognitive and affective empathy, while taking into account social desirability response bias. Analyses of a priori hypotheses showed incestuous and extrafamilial molesters had significantly greater fear of negative evaluation than rapists, and that extrafamilial molesters had significantly higher congnitive distortion scores than all other groups. The groups did not differ significantly on empathy scores. Implications of these findings for research with, and treatment of, child molesters are discussed.