Child molesters' construal of themselves, other adults, and children

Abstract

Adults who engage in sexual activity with children may do so as a result of viewing themselves, other adults, and children in distinctive ways. To examine this perspective, we had 57 incarcerated child molesters, 50 incarcerated offenders without sexual convictions, and 30 community-based non offenders complete a form of the role construct repertory grid (rep grid) and a specially developed rating grid. Although no between-groups differences in rating grid descriptions of children were found, multivariate analyses of variance revealed significant differences between child molesters and other participants in rating grid self-descriptions. Child molesters described themselves as less attractive than did non molesters. Women were seen by molesters in similarly unattractive terms. Within the child molester group, the content-categorized rep grid results showed that molesters whose victims were female viewed people in terms of external appearances, whereas those who victimized males or both males and females viewed people in terms of self-sufficiency and emotional expression.