Effect of sexual arousal on child sex offenders' implicit and explicit attitudes towards child sexual abuse

Theories and empirical findings suggest that attitudes supportive of child sexual abuse (CSA) and sexual arousal may be associated with deviant sexual behaviour. An experimental design was used to investigate the effect of sexual arousal on child sex offenders' implicit and explicit attitudes towards CSA. Data was collected from 18 child sex offenders and 18 non-sex offenders from institutions in Canada. Participants were evaluated on two Implicit Association Tests (IAT) designed to assess implicit attitudes towards CSA, and two questionnaires that measure explicit attitudes towards CSA (Sex with Children Scale and CSA Semantic Differentials). Participants read an erotic or control story and then completed the measures a second time. Sexual arousal appears to be a strong emotional state. As hypothesized, when sexually aroused, child sex offenders' implicit attitudes became significantly more positive towards sex with girls. The IAT may be a viable supplement to self-report measures in forensic settings.