This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Blanchard, R. Articles by Dickey, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Blanchard, R. Articles by Dickey, R. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Absolute Versus Relative Ascertainment of Pedophilia in Men

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Ray_Blanchard{at}camh.net, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Michael E. Kuban

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Thomas Blak

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

James M. Cantor

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Philip E. Klassen

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Robert Dickey

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, College Street Site, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

There are at least two different criteria for assessing pedophilia in men: absolute ascertainment (their sexual interest in children is intense) and relative ascertainment (their sexual interest in children is greater than their interest in adults). The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition (DSM-III) used relative ascertainment in its diagnostic criteria for pedophilia; this was abandoned and replaced by absolute ascertainment in the DSM-III-R and all subsequent editions. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the continuing need for relative ascertainment, particularly in the laboratory assessment of pedophilia. A total of 402 heterosexual men were selected from a database of patients referred to a specialty clinic. These had undergone phallometric testing, a psychophysiological procedure in which their penile blood volume was monitored while they were presented with a standardized set of laboratory stimuli depicting male and female children, pubescents, and adults.The 130 men selected for the Teleiophilic Profile group responded substantially to prepubescent girls but even more to adult women; the 272 men selected for the Pedophilic Profile group responded weakly to prepubescent girls but even less to adult women. In terms of absolute magnitude, every patient in the Pedophilic Profile group had a lesser penile response to prepubescent girls than every patient in the Teleiophilic Profile group. Nevertheless, the Pedophilic Profile group had a significantly greater number of known sexual offenses against prepubescent girls, indicating that they contained a higher proportion of true pedophiles. These results dramatically demonstrate the utility—or perhaps necessity—of relative ascertainment in the laboratory assessment of erotic age—preference.

Key Words: DSM • paraphilias • pedophilia • penile plethysmography • phallometry • sexual offending • teleiophilia

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol. 21, No. 4, 431-441 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1079063209347906


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?