Do female child molesters implicitly associate children and sex? A preliminary investigation

Abstract

A number of studies using the Implicit Association Test have shown successfully that male child molesters hold cognitive associations between children and sexual concepts. The results of such studies appear to indicate that male child molesters hold core cognitive associations that play some part in facilitating and/or maintaining sexual advances towards children. Given the relative success of the Implicit Association Test with male child molesters, we used this test with 17 female child molesters. The results showed that female child molesters did not differ from non-sexual offending females on the Implicit Association Test. In fact, female child molesters appeared more likely to associate adults with sexual concepts rather than children. We discuss these findings in relation to current assessment and treatment with female child molesters.