Deconstructing “Sexual Deviance”: Identifying and Empirically Examining Assumptions about “Deviant” Sexual Fantasy in the DSM

Figures & data

Table 1. Means (standard deviations), ANOVAs and internal reliability for the WSFQ thought context by group.

	Group
	SO (n= 59)			NSO (n = 74)			NO (n = 71)
Subscale/total	M	(SD)	α	M	(SD)	α	M	(SD)	α	F	df	ω^2
Intimate	26.49a	(13.22)	.91	32.19b	(12.95)	.90	35.94b	(9.82)	.84	9.99*	(2, 201)	.08
Exploratory	9.98a	(8.61)	.79	14.27b	(7.90)	.72	16.20b	(8.44)	.69	9.34*	(2, 201)	.08
Impersonal	11.41a	(8.38)	.73	16.38b	(8.88)	.75	20.21c	(8.52)	.68	16.84*	(2, 201)	.13
Sadomasochistic	3.80a	(5.77)	.82	8.65b	(9.83)	.86	11.01b	(8.50)	.76	17.92*	(2, 133)	.10
Scale total	51.67a	(31.48)	.94	71.54b	(34.22)	.93	83.37c	(26.25)	.87	17.18*	(2, 201)	.14

Higher means indicate greater thought frequency. Means in the same row that do not share subscripts differed at p < .05 at post-hoc testing. See Text S4 in the OSM for how the tests of difference were conducted. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated before imputing missing values. SO = Sexual offending; NSO = Non-sexual offending; NO = Non-offending. * p < .05 with a multistage Bonferroni correction

Table 2. Conditional and latent class probabilities for favorite sexual thought.

	Class
	1	2	3	4	5
“Quasi-paraphilic” behaviors^a
Any	0.034	0.994	0.001	0.138	0.096
None	0.953	0.005	0.034	0.863	0.898
Missing	0.013	0.001	0.965	0.001	0.006
“Paraphilic” behaviors^b
Any	0.001	0.336	0.032	0.734	0.579
None	0.998	0.663	0.007	0.265	0.418
Missing	0.001	0.001	0.961	0.001	0.003
Means of compliance
Any	0.000	0.846	0.063	0.128	0.002
None	1.000	0.024	0.502	0.871	0.744
Missing	0.000	0.130	0.435	0.001	0.254
Number of different sexual acts^c
1	0.101	0.199	0.077	0.254	0.069
2	0.158	0.314	0.121	0.400	0.109
3+	0.070	0.139	0.054	0.177	0.048
Missing	0.671	0.348	0.748	0.169	0.774
Interpersonal context^d
No states	0.258	0.210	0.188	0.002	0.003
Self-oriented	0.223	0.268	0.127	0.132	0.644
Other-oriented	0.105	0.105	0.247	0.001	0.128
Mutual	0.410	0.365	0.221	0.844	0.019
Missing	0.004	0.052	0.217	0.021	0.206
Prevalence of each class	0.540	0.145	0.121	0.104	0.090

N = 264.

^{a “}Quasi-paraphilic” behaviors includes 16–17 year-old actors, Social voyeurism (observation of knowledgeable others who are naked or engaged in sexual activity), Social exhibitionism (uninvolved background actors), Causing psychological suffering or physical pain, Receiving psychological suffering or physical pain.

^{b “}Paraphilic” behaviors includes 0–15 year-old actors, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Frotteurism, Causing psychological suffering or physical pain with sadism, Receiving psychological suffering or physical pain with masochism, Fetishism, Cross-dressing, Partialism, Other “paraphilia.”

^cCount variable for Type of sexual contact.

^dComposite variable based on whether any states were reported for the participant only (Self-oriented), the other actor/s only (Other-oriented), or both (Mutual).

Table 3. Descriptive statistics and adjusted residuals for favorite sexual thought by group.

	Group
	SO			NSO			NO
Thought type or element	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)
Thought type
Vaginal/oral sex with 1+ women	61.9	52	(0.7)	68.1	62	(2.3)	46.1	41	(−3.0)
Dominance & submission	7.1	6	(−2.3)	11.0	10	(−1.1)	24.7	22	(3.4)
Ambiguous	13.1	11	(0.3)	12.1	11	(0.0)	11.2	10	(−0.3)
Fetish or child: Mutual	13.1	11	(2.3)	3.3	3	(−1.9)	6.7	6	(−0.4)
Fetish or child: Self	4.8	4	(−1.0)	5.5	5	(−0.8)	11.2	10	(1.8)
Children
Yes	10.7	9	(2.4)	2.2	2	(−1.8)	4.5	4	(−0.6)
No	82.1	69	(−3.0)	94.5	86	(1.7)	93.3	83	(1.2)
Ambiguous	7.1	6	(1.7)	3.3	3	(−0.5)	2.2	2	(−1.1)
Other person’s lack of desire
Yes	3.6	3		1.1	1		2.2	2
No	96.4	81		98.9	90		97.8	87
Other person’s lack of enjoyment
Yes	1.2	1		1.1	1		1.1	1
No	98.8	83		98.9	90		98.9	88

SO = Sexual offending; NSO = Non-sexual offending; NO = Non-offending; AR = Adjusted residual. ARs shown for significant chi-squares only.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics and adjusted residuals for favorite sexual thought by subgroup.

	Subgroup
	SOC			SOA			SOC+SOA			vNSO			nvNSO			NO
Thought type	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)	%	n	(AR)
Vaginal/oral sex with 1+ women	51.3	20	(−1.0)	80.8	21	(2.5)	45.5	5	(−0.9)	72.0	36	(2.2)	70.0	14	(1.1)	46.1	41	(−3.0)
Dominance & submission	12.8	5	(−0.5)	0.0	0	(−2.3)	9.1	1	(−0.6)	12.0	6	(−0.7)	10.0	2	(−0.7)	24.7	22	(3.1)
Ambiguous	12.8	5	(0.3)	11.5	3	(0.0)	18.2	2	(0.7)	8.0	4	(−0.9)	15.0	3	(0.5)	11.2	10	(−0.1)
Fetish or child: Mutual	15.4	6	(1.7)	7.7	2	(−0.2)	27.3	3	(2.3)	6.0	3	(−0.7)	0.0	0	(−1.4)	6.7	6	(−0.8)
Fetish or child: Self	7.7	3	(0.4)	0.0	0	(−1.4)	0.0	0	(−0.9)	2.0	1	(−1.4)	5.0	1	(−0.3)	11.2	10	(2.4)

SOC = Sexual offenses against children; SOA = Sexual offenses against adults; SOC+SOA = Sexual offenses against children and adults; vNSO = Violent non-sexual offenses, nvNSO = nonviolent non-sexual offenses, NO = No offenses; AR = Adjusted residual

Table 5. Medians (interquartile range) and Kruskal-Wallis tests for the WSFQ thought context by subgroup.

	Subgroup
	SOC (n = 35)		SOA (n = 17)		vNSO (n = 40)		nvNSO (n = 17)		NO (n = 71)
Subscale/total	Mdn	(IQR)	Mdn	(IQR)	Mdn	(IQR)	Mdn	(IQR)	Mdn	(IQR)	H	df	r
Intimate	28.00	(15.00)	28.00	(19.00)	37.00a	(23.00)	35.00a	(15.50)	37.00a	(15.00)	18.29*	(4)	.23
Exploratory	8.00	(11.00)	7.00	(10.00)	13.00a	(13.75)	17.00ab	(9.00)	15.00ab	(11.00)	26.32*	(4)	.30
Impersonal	11.00	(13.00)	11.00	(9.50)	14.00ac	(12.00)	19.00ab	(11.50)	20.00ab	(11.00)	37.73*	(4)	.35
Sadomasochistic	0.00	(5.00)	0.00	(7.00)	4.00	(17.75)	7.00a	(13.44)	10.00ab	(13.00)	31.78*	(4)	.34
Scale total	49.00	(38.44)	55.00	(37.11)	73.00ab	(56.50)	79.00ab	(38.83)	81.00ab	(41.00)	35.54*	(4)	.38

Higher medians indicate greater thought frequency. SOC = Sexual offenses against children; SOA = Sexual offenses against adults; vNSO = Violent non-sexual offenses; nvNSO = nonviolent non-sexual offenses; NO = No offenses; IQR = Interquartile range. The SOC+SOA subgroup was excluded as n = 6. Significant differences of p < .05 with step-down follow-up analyses:

^asignificantly different from SOC subgroup;

^bsignificantly different from SOA subgroup;

^csignificantly different from NO group. See Text S4 in the OSM for how the tests of difference were conducted.

* p < .05 with a multistage Bonferroni correction.

Data Availability Statement

Permission was not sought from participants at the time of data collection to share their data publicly, and as the data are anonymous, retrospective permission cannot be sought.