Jordan Kirsten, Müller Isabel, Fromberger Peter, Dobrunz Uwe, Franz Ute, Müller Jürgen Leo
University Medical Center (UMG), Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany.
Asklepios Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany.
Sex Abuse. 2025 Aug;37(5):571-608. doi: 10.1177/10790632241297271. Epub 2024 Nov 7.
Thirty-two forensic persons who have committed sexual offenses against children (FP-SOC), 26 non-forensic persons of whom most have committed sexual offenses against children (NFP-SOC), 14 forensic persons who have not committed sexual offenses against children but have committed other offenses (FP-NSOC), and 53 non-forensic persons who have not committed sexual offenses against children (NFP-NSOC) were instructed to solve a cognitive task, while sexual distractors were presented simultaneously. Behavioral performance and eye movements were measured. FP-SOC and NFP-SOC exhibit same age preference patterns for children and adults, but both groups differ significantly with respect to sexual attentional control. Moderate discrimination accuracy and moderate effect sizes resulted for sexual interest, and good discrimination accuracy and large effect sizes were found for attentional control. Good attentional control in the NFP-SOC, probably reflecting superior sexual self-control and self-regulation abilities, might contribute to a better recognition and control of environmental factors in sexual risk situations, preventing them from being detected and convicted. Otherwise, strong cognitive distortions might serve for them as offense justification. We conclude that those non-forensic persons with sexual offense histories against children (NFP-SOC) with sexual interest in children, good attentional self-control and strong cognitive distortions represent a problematic group which should receive more attention regarding further research but also therapy. Future studies should include more suitable and larger control groups, appropriate instruments to measure independent variables, and investigate whether different classifications of pedophilic interest would be better suited to describe the eye movement patterns of our study participants.
32名对儿童实施性犯罪的司法人员（FP-SOC）、26名大多对儿童实施性犯罪的非司法人员（NFP-SOC）、14名未对儿童实施性犯罪但实施了其他犯罪的司法人员（FP-NSOC）以及53名未对儿童实施性犯罪的非司法人员（NFP-NSOC）被要求完成一项认知任务，同时会呈现性干扰物。测量了他们的行为表现和眼动情况。FP-SOC和NFP-SOC在对儿童和成人的年龄偏好模式上相同，但两组在性注意力控制方面存在显著差异。对于性兴趣，辨别准确率中等且效应量中等，而对于注意力控制，辨别准确率良好且效应量较大。NFP-SOC中良好的注意力控制，可能反映出其较强的性自我控制和自我调节能力，这可能有助于在性风险情境中更好地识别和控制环境因素，避免被发现和定罪。否则，强烈的认知扭曲可能会成为他们犯罪的借口。我们得出结论，那些有针对儿童性犯罪历史且对儿童有性兴趣、具有良好注意力自我控制能力和强烈认知扭曲的非司法人员（NFP-SOC）是一个有问题的群体，在进一步研究和治疗方面应受到更多关注。未来的研究应包括更合适、更大的对照组、测量自变量的合适工具，并研究恋童癖兴趣的不同分类是否更适合描述我们研究参与者的眼动模式。
