NCJ Number
205665
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2001 Pages: 703-718
Date Published
May 2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of the Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest (AASI) examined its criterion validity based on its ability to distinguish between non-child molesters and self-reporting child molesters, as well as the AASI's resistance to falsification based on its ability to distinguish between liar-denier child molesters and non-child molesters.
Abstract
A variety of measures have been used to detect a person's sexual arousal and interest. One measure is visual reaction time when looking at sexual and nonsexual stimuli. Visual reaction time has been used as a measure of sexual preference. The AASI quantifies a subject's visual reaction time for various categories of sexual stimuli. As a subject views slides that present clothed people in varying contexts, the length of the latency period required for the client to respond with a self-reported ranking of his/her sexual interest in the slide's content is measured. The AASI assumes that the longer a subject focuses on a slide while rating his/her sexual interest, the greater the sexual interest in the slide's content. An average of responding time latency periods for all slides contained within the same category of sexual interest is used as a measure of the subject's interest in each category. The current assessment of the AASI involved a sample of 747 participants matched by age, race, and income. Three logistic regression equations were used to compare a group of non-child molesting patients under evaluation for other paraphilias with the following three groups: self-reporting molesters of girls under 14 years old, self-reporting molesters of boys under 14 years old, and a group believed to be concealing or denying having molested a child. The two equations designed to distinguish between self-reporting child molesters and non-child molesters were statistically significant, and the equation that contrasted child molesters who attempted to conceal or deny their behavior with non-child molesting patients was also statistically significant. The AASI was thus found to demonstrate criterion validity as well as its resistance to falsification and its utility as a tool in the detection of child molesters who deny their offenses. 7 tables and 16 references