Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A5, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Arch Sex Behav. 2018 Nov;47(8):2241-2254. doi: 10.1007/s10508-018-1288-2. Epub 2018 Nov 2.
Some men convicted of sexual offences against children express an exaggerated affiliation with childhood, ascribe child-like characteristics to themselves, experience strong non-sexual liking of children, and hold positive views of children and childhood. These features are generally called emotional congruence with children. The present study examined child-like self-concept, which is an association of self with children and child-like characteristics, attitude toward children, and general emotional congruence with children as correlates of sexual offending against children and pedophilia. Male participants (18 sexual offenders against unrelated children; 7 incest offenders; 22 non-sexual offenders; 54 students) completed newly developed implicit and explicit measures of child-like self-concept and attitude toward children, as well as more established self-report measures of emotional congruence with children. Assessments of pedophilic interest and sexual recidivism risk were obtained from official file information. Sexual offenders against unrelated children reported higher levels of implicit child-like self-concept and self-reported emotional congruence with children when compared to the other three groups. Implicit child-like self-concept showed a small correlation with emotional congruence measures, whereas implicit attitude toward children was moderately correlated with the emotional congruence measures. Implicit child-like self-concept, implicit attitude toward children, and the emotional congruence measures were associated with greater pedophilic interest and sexual recidivism risk. The present findings provide a nuanced understanding of the emotional congruence with children construct and have implications for theory, research, and treatment of sexual offenders against children.
一些被判犯有性犯罪的男性对儿童表现出过度的依恋，将儿童般的特征归因于自己，对儿童产生强烈的非性喜爱，并对儿童和童年持有积极的看法。这些特征通常被称为与儿童的情感共鸣。本研究考察了儿童般的自我概念，即自我与儿童和儿童般特征的联系、对儿童的态度以及与儿童的普遍情感共鸣，作为与儿童性犯罪和恋童癖相关的因素。男性参与者（18 名与无亲属关系的儿童发生性关系的性犯罪者；7 名乱伦犯罪者；22 名非性犯罪者；54 名学生）完成了新开发的儿童般自我概念和对儿童的态度的内隐和外显测量，以及更成熟的儿童般情感共鸣的自我报告测量。从官方档案信息中获得了恋童癖兴趣和性累犯风险的评估。与其他三组相比，与无亲属关系的儿童发生性关系的性犯罪者报告的内隐儿童般自我概念和自我报告的与儿童的情感共鸣水平更高。内隐儿童般自我概念与情感共鸣测量呈小相关，而内隐对儿童的态度与情感共鸣测量呈中度相关。内隐儿童般自我概念、内隐对儿童的态度和情感共鸣测量与更大的恋童癖兴趣和性累犯风险相关。本研究结果提供了对与儿童的情感共鸣结构的细致理解，并对儿童性犯罪者的理论、研究和治疗具有启示意义。
