Construction and Validation of the Implicit Theories of Sexual Offense Questionnaire (ITSOQ) in a General and (sub)Clinical Population Sample

TL;DR

This study created and tested a questionnaire to measure implicit theories about sexual offenses in both general and clinical populations.

Contribution

The paper introduces and validates the Implicit Theories of Sexual Offense Questionnaire (ITSOQ) with distinct factors for different populations.

Findings

The ITSOQ has four components: victim-specific theories, a sexual social desirability index, and antisocial uncontrollability.

The (sub)clinical population scored higher on antisocial uncontrollability and SSDI factors.

Small associations were found between self-reported sexual interests and victim-specific factors.

Abstract

This study developed and assessed the psychometric properties of a questionnaire assessing Implicit Theories (ITs) of sexual offense (Polaschek & Ward, 2002; Ward & Keenan, 1999), named the Implicit Theories of Sexual Offense Questionnaire (ITSOQ). We used existing cognition questionnaires to create a potential item pool, and selected items based on item properties (e.g., mean, SD, range) from three male general population samples (n = 427) and three (sub)clinical population samples (n = 69), i.e., pedophilia-supportive forum users (n = 20), and sexual (n = 28) and violent (n = 21) forensic mental health system clients. A principal component analysis for the general population sample supported a four-component solution for the ITSOQ, including two victim-specific ITs (Factor 1: Children 14–16 years, Factor 2: Women), a sexual social desirability index (SSDI; Factor 3), and a component reflecting the antisocial uncontrollability IT (Factor 4). Analyses indicated measurement invariance, and higher scores for the (sub)clinical population were found for the antisocial uncontrollability and SSDI factors, with low to moderate effect sizes. Additionally, (small) associations between self-reported sexual interest in children and adults and the victim-specific child and women factors were found. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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