| Previous research investigated mental health professionals' attitudes and perceptions toward sex offenders (Barabas, 2007; Cichon, 2005; Dooley, 2010; Evans, 1997; Griffith, 2010; Hogue, 1993). Expanding the literature on psychologists' attitudes and perceptions of sex offenders, this study assessed and compared attitudes and perceptions of psychology graduate student-trainees' and psychologists toward persons with pedophilic interests. The independent variables included occupation (e.g., graduate student-trainee and licensed psychologist) and pedosexual behavior (e.g., erotic preference and no sexual contact with prepubescent children vs. sexual contact with prepubescent children). The dependent variable included mean scores for each group derived from the Attitudes Toward Sex Offender Scale (ATS; Hogue, 1993). The study included 48 participants from various ethnic backgrounds, randomly assigned to one of four groups, utilizing a 2 x 2 Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical design. Results indicate no statistically significant relationship between occupation and pedosexual behavior; there were no statistically significant main effects. |
