Construct Validity of the Violence Risk Scale—Sexual Offender Version for Measuring Sexual Deviance

Abstract

Previous studies have identified sexual deviance as a particularly strong predictor of sexual recidivism in sex offenders. The present study examined the construct validity (i.e., convergent and discriminant validity) of the three dynamic factor domains (Sexual Deviance, Criminality, Treatment Responsivity) of the Violence Risk Scale- Sexual Offender version (VRS-SO) as well as the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests (SSPI; for comparison purposes) with respect to phallometric measures of sexual deviance. VRS-SO and phallometric data were collected from 124 federally incarcerated sex offenders from a maximum security forensic psychiatric facility. The Sexual Deviance factor and SSPI were positively correlated to varying degrees with computed arousal indexes (Percent Full Erection, difference scores) for child stimuli but were not significantly correlated with nondeviant arousal, supporting the convergent and discriminant validity of these measures, respectively. Convergent validity also appeared stronger for sex offender subtypes with child victims. Criminality and Treatment Responsivity did not correlate with male stimuli, although they were positively correlated with arousal to female profiles. The VRS-SO Sexual Deviance factor and some phallometric indexes of deviant arousal (e.g., female children) were predictive of sexual recidivism whereas the SSPI was not. The pattern of findings across analyses broadly supports the construct validity of the VRS-SO in assessing sexual deviance.