Diagnosis Of Pedophilia Research Articles

Психометрическая проверка методик для оценки когнитивных искажений, касающихся сексуальных отношений с детьми

<p style="text-align: justify;">The prevalence of cognitive distortions in sexual offenders is a significant risk factor for reoffending. Investigation of cognitive distortions can improve the quality of differential diagnosis and expert assessment of the accused. The aim of this study was the testing of the criterion and convergent validity, as well as the internal consistency of two scales for assessing cognitive distortions: the Dichotomic Scale of Cognitive Distortions and the Russian version of the MOLEST scale. The psychometric properties of the questionnaires were tested on a sample of 84 male subjects. Many of them (63 subjects) were accused of committing sexual criminal acts against minors (37 with pedophilia, 26 without disorders of sexual preference). The results of the study demonstrate good internal consistency for both the scales (Cronbach’s alpha was 0,910 and 0,956, respectively). Evidences of criterion validity for the diagnosis of pedophilia (for both methods at the significance level of p<0,01) and convergent validity (r=0,713; p=0) are given. The proposed scales are resistant to social desirability and can be used as additional diagnostic tools in clinical practice.</p>

Child Abuse Myths are Pedophilic Myths: Cognitive Distortions are Stronger in Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses Diagnosed with Pedophilia Compared to Those Without Such Diagnosis

ABSTRACT Based on the theory of cognitive dissonance and the understanding of cognitive distortions as defense mechanisms, we argued that individuals convicted of sexual offenses diagnosed with exclusive pedophilia (epICSOC) report more child offense related cognitive distortions compared to individuals convicted of sexual offenses without such diagnosis (oICSOC). In the present study, we aimed to empirically validate these clinical observations and previous results by relating cognitive distortions to four measures of pedophilic preference, namely, a clinical diagnosis of pedophilia, viewing time captured and self-reported pedophilic preference (EISIP; as well as the SSPI-2). Results revealed that cognitive distortions in general and minimizing sexually offending behavior toward children or attributing sexual interest to children in particular, significantly correlated with all four measures of pedosexual preference. Regression analyses, furthermore, indicated that attributing sexual interest to children was the best predictor for a pedosexual preference. Results thus show that cognitive distortions typically associated with child molesting in general are, in fact, more common in individuals convicted of sexual offenses diagnosed with exclusive pedophilia than in those without such diagnosis.

Validating the Screening Scale of Pedophilic Crime Scene Behavior

The Screening Scale of Pedophilic Crime Scene Behavior (SSPC) is a seven-item structured rating scale assessing pedophilic sexual arousal. In the current study, we cross-validated the scale’s convergent validity using multiple measures of sexual interest in children (clinical diagnosis of pedophilia, the high fixation/low social competence type of the MTC:CM4, and phallometric assessment of sexual interests toward children) in two independent samples (USA and Canada). In both samples and in relation to all three criteria, the SSPC showed acceptable (phallometry) to excellent (clinical assessment) diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, the SSPC showed incremental validity in relation to the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interest and at times outperformed it in convergent validity analyses. The current study also provides psychometric information that can help users choose an appropriate SSPC cutoff score.

Measuring sexual interest in persons who have sexually offended against children: investigating the Choice Reaction Time task using the Virtual People Set

ABSTRACT Identifying pedophilic sexual interest among persons who have sexually offended against children (PSOCs) is important for risk assessment because not all PSOCs are pedophilic. Existing physiological and self-report methods have several limitations. In the present study, sexual interest was assessed indirectly by means of a computer task: the Choice Reaction Time (CRT) task in 49 extrafamilial PSOCs and 25 persons without a history of sexual offences against children (control group). The results showed that PSOCs, the participants with a DSM-IV diagnosis of pedophilia or with a high score on pedophilic interest (measured by the SSPI-2) performed equally fast in the different age category stimuli. In other words, no effect of sexual orientation towards children was found. The control group however, showed longer reaction times for the adult and adolescent stimuli compared to the child stimuli, indicative that they did not have a sexual orientation towards children. The present study found only partial evidence for the validity of the CRT paradigm, as it was effective in discriminating age orientation in the control group but not in the group of PSOCs.

Polish adaptation of emotional Stroop test in assessment of pedophilia - a pilot study.

A pilot study was conducted in order to construct a Polish adaptation of emotional Stroop test in assessment of pedophilia. The study consisted of two stages. The first stage involved creating test material by ranking words in adequate lists by competent experts. The second stage consisted of empirical verification of the principle of emotional Stroop test in a non-clinical population. Based on the assessment of five competent experts, words were ordered from the most to the least sexually arousing (Kendall's W from 0.368 to 0.693). Six ranked lists were obtained, and the competent experts were subsequently asked to assess whether these lists were suitable for the study (Lawshe's Content Validity Ratio from 0.6 to 1.0). Two categories of words were merged. Five ranked lists were obtained, and the competent experts were subsequently asked again to assess whether these lists were suitable for the study (Lawshe's Content Validity Ratio 1.0). The created lists of words were approved by allcompetent experts. Based on the experimental study conducted on a non-clinical population, it was shown that, in accordance with the principle of the test, the mean response time for sexually related words was longer that for neutral words. The mean response time for children-related words did not differ significantly from response time for neutral words. Based on the study with competent experts and conducted experiments, an initial Polish adaptation of the emotional Stroop test for diagnosis of pedophilia has been created. Further studies with persons with pedophilia are needed to implement the test in clinical setting.

Измененное восприятие возраста при педофилии / педофильном расстройстве

The article presents data from an empirical study of the features for age perception in pedophilia (ICD-10) / pedophilic disorder (ICD-11). We consider a phenomenon of individuals with pedophilia what often want to be like children or feel themselves like them. An analytical review of the literature on the subjective perception of age and age identity is provided. The question is discussed on how the chronological assessment of the live time is transformed into a subjective assessment of one's own age, as well as the mechanisms underlying such kind of transformation (in particular, successful or unsuccessful experience of socialization). Three groups of individuals are compared: persons accused of sexual crimes with diagnosis of pedophilia (21 examinees), without such a diagnosis (21 examinees) and 45 examinees of the control group. All of them completed the test on “Age Identity”, “Color Test of Affective Tones” and “Coding”. According to the results the actual and ideal self-image in pedophilia is more infantile and similar to the image of a child. Obtained data indicate the immaturity of sexual sphere in examinees with pedophilia, they perceive sexuality in communicative and playing context.

Zmodyfikowane zadanie Stroopa w diagnozie psychologicznej pedofilnych preferencji seksualnych. Systematyczny przegląd literatury

ENWEndNote BIBJabRef, Mendeley RISPapers, Reference Manager, RefWorks, Zotero AMA Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak W, Lew-Starowicz M. Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review. Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii. 2019;28(1):42-53. doi:10.5114/ppn.2019.84355. APA Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak, W., & Lew-Starowicz, M. (2019). Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review. Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, 28(1), 42-53. https://doi.org/10.5114/ppn.2019.84355 Chicago Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak, Wojciech, and Michał Lew-Starowicz. 2019. "Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review". Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii 28 (1): 42-53. doi:10.5114/ppn.2019.84355. Harvard Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak, W., and Lew-Starowicz, M. (2019). Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review. Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, 28(1), pp.42-53. https://doi.org/10.5114/ppn.2019.84355 MLA Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak, Wojciech et al. "Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review." Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, vol. 28, no. 1, 2019, pp. 42-53. doi:10.5114/ppn.2019.84355. Vancouver Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak W, Lew-Starowicz M. Modified Stroop test in psychological diagnosis of pedophilia. a systematic review. Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology/Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii. 2019;28(1):42-53. doi:10.5114/ppn.2019.84355.

Subjective Features of Sexual Abuse

The article is devoted to the features of the subjective side and the crime committer under Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Based on the doctrinal provisions of the criminal legal science and case materials the author concludes that sexual abuse can appear only with direct intention. The article also considers the issue of motive and purpose in the criminal elements of sexual abuse. The work justifies the position that the offence provided for in Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation committed in the contact form does necessarily have any motive and purpose. At the same time, committing non-contact abuse is intended to satisfy the sexual needs (of the perpetrator, the victim or a third party) or arousal of interest in sexual actions in injured. These purposes are alternative, so it is enough to have one of them to classify the act under Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, when analyzing the features of the criminal the definition of pedophilia is addressed. It is found that in Russia, the diagnosis of pedophilia is determined in accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation and Federal State Budgetary Institution "The National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology after V.P. Serbskiy". It states that pedophilia takes place in the case of permanent or overwhelming desire of sexual activity with a prepubescent or early pubertal age child. A mandatory criterion is the presence of the five-year difference in age with the child.

Особенности восприятия объекта сексуального предпочтения у лиц с педофилией в зависимости от отношения к сексуальному влечению

The article examines expert and diagnostic aspects of "ego-sintonic / ego-dystonic" types of attitudes to sexual desire and describes importance of studying the basis of desire in the context of sexual offenses against minors. We present results of empirical research which aims to study perception features of the sexual preference object in persons with pedophilia depending on the attitude to sexual desire. The study based on data provided by laboratory of forensic sexology, V.P. Serbsky Federal Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Addiction, Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation. The sample consisted of 30 men with such sexual desire disorder as pedophilia. The results analysis showing differences in the perception of the object of sexual desire according to different attitude to the desire. The results indicate that different types of attitudes to sexual desire correspond to certain characteristics of the perception object. Identified patterns can be used in the creating the criminal prospective portrait, dealing with expert issues, developing correction and preventive programs for patients with a diagnosis of pedophilia.

Predicting reoffense in pedophilic child molesters by clinical diagnoses and risk assessment.

A Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-based diagnosis of pedophilia has so far failed to predict sexual reoffense in convicted child molesters, probably because of its broad and unspecific conceptualization. In this study, therefore, we investigated the prognostic value of the subtype exclusive pedophilia and a series of customary risk assessment instruments (SSPI, Static-99, Stable-2007, VRS:SO) and the PCL-R in a sample of prison released pedophilic sexual offenders. First, we examined the convergent validity of risk assessment instruments (N = 261). Then, we calculated the predictive accuracy of the measures and diagnosis for sexual recidivism by ROC analyses and subsequent Cox regression (N = 189). Also, predictive values with more clinical immediacy were calculated (sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV). The VRS:SO, the SSPI, and the Static-99 significantly predicted sexual recidivism, as did a diagnosis of exclusive pedophilia. Also, the VRS:SO predicted sexual reoffense significantly better than the Stable-2007, the Static-99/Stable-2007 combined score, and the PCL-R. When used combined, only the VRS:SO and a diagnosis of exclusive pedophilia added incremental validity to each other. Our findings support that the clinical diagnosis of an exclusive pedophilia based on DSM criteria and VRS:SO defined risk factors can reliably discriminate higher from lower risk offenders, even within the select subgroup of pedophilic child molesters.

Evidence That Arousal to Pedophilic Stimuli Can Change: Response to Bailey, Cantor, and Lalumière

We thank Drs. Bailey, Cantor, and Lalumiere for their careful reviews of Muller et al. (2014), hereafter referred to as ‘‘our study’’or‘‘our article.’’Our study reported on the results of a retrospective analysis of a group of men assessed at the Sexual Behaviours Clinic at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre between 1983 and 2011, who fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: DSM-III, IV or IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 1980, 1994, 2000) diagnosis of pedophilia, an initial penileplethysmographytest (PPT) indicativeofsexual interest in children, and a second PPT test at least 6 months later. Because we were interested in testing the hypothesis that arousal topedophilic stimulicanchange,weselectedmenwhose PPT at Time 1 showed a greater increase in penile circumference in response to children compared to adults. Of this group, about halfshowedagreaterincreaseinpenilecircumferenceinresponse to adults (as compared to children) at Time 2. In the article, we noted that the men who changed PPT response profiles demonstrated both a decrease of penile circumference change in responsetoaudiotapesdescribingsexual interactionwithchildren and an increase in penile circumference change in response to audiotapes describing sexual interactions between adults. In our article, we suggested that the demonstration of a statistically significant decrease in sexual response toward children (p\.001), combined with a statistically significant increase in sexual response to adults (p\.001), presents a challenge to the claim that pedophilic sexual interest is unchangeable. We note that there was an error that has been formally communicated to the Editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, due to the misclassification of three of the men in the study. The removal of these cases and complete re-analysis of the data did not change the results or our conclusions. Bailey, Cantor, and Lalumiere each claimed that the notion of the immutability of pedophilic interest is not challenged by the findings of our study and attempted to offer some non-evidencebased support for their opinions. We are grateful for the opportunity to respond and do so below by reviewing each commentary in alphabetized author order. Bailey began his commentary by equating sexual orientation with sexual arousal,‘‘Because a man’s sexual orientation/ erotic interest is identical to his characteristic sexual response pattern...’’We disagree because sexual orientation is different from sexual arousal. Men who have sex with men are not necessarily gay, and a gay man is still gay even if he loses his sex drive or is unable to get an erection. In our article, we speculated that the reluctance of researchers to accept there is evidence that pedophilic sexual interest can change is due to confusion between sexual orientation and sexual interest. It should be noted that our study was never designed to investigate change insexualorientationandweexplicitlystated in thearticle thatour study does not support any recommendations aimed at changing sexual orientation. Equating orientation with interest confuses interpretation of the issue and may be clinically harmful. Bailey wrote that‘‘...sometimes men do not get sufficient erection during a PPT to be accurately classified.’’ We agree. This is why we selected men who initially produced more changein penile circumference in response tochild stimuli than to adults, as well as only those who demonstrated a change in J. P. Fedoroff (&) S. Curry R. Ranger J. Bradford Forensic Research Unit, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, 1145 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1Z 7K4, Canada e-mail: paul.fedoroff@theroyal.ca

Оценка когнитивных искажений в сфере сексуальности у лиц, совершивших половые преступления против несовершеннолетних

We provide a definition of the concept of "cognitive distortions in the sexual sphere," reveal the relevance of the study of these distortions in the context of sexual offenses against minors. We briefly review the literature of research on the subject. We describe a research, the aim of which was to study a group of individuals who have committed sexual crimes against minors: how homogeneous is the sample in terms of the severity of the distortion. The group was divided into two subgroups: those who have been diagnosed with pedophilia, and those without pedophilia. The norm group also included persons who has never been prosecuted. To assess cognitive distortions in the sexual sphere we used SONAR method (The Sex Offender Need Assessment Rating). The obtained results confirm the importance of the factor of cognitive biases in the field of sexuality in the assessment of sexual crimes risk, as well as in the differential diagnosis of pedophilia.

A Multimodal Examination of Sexual Interest in Children

Research and theoretical models have consistently identified sexual interest in children as a key factor involved in child sexual offending. However, there is only moderate agreement in the diagnosis of pedophilia and different assessment methods identify different offenders as pedophiles. The current study examined the discriminative and convergent validity of three different measures of sexual interest in children. Participants included sex offenders and nonsex offenders recruited from federal prisons (i.e., offenders serving sentences of more than 2 years) in Ontario, Canada. Child molesters' responses (n = 35) were not significantly different from nonsex offenders (n = 21) on an implicit measure of sexual interest in children (Sexual Attraction to Children Implicit Association Test [SAC-IAT] d = 0.44, 95% CI [-0.11, 0.99]), but differed on the self-report (Sexual Interest Profiling System; d = 0.83, 95% CI [0.27, 1.39]) and viewing time (d = 1.15, 95% CI [0.54, 1.75]) measures. Findings did not provide clear support for the superiority of a multimodal approach, possibly due to the relatively small sample. More often than not, convergence between the three measures was observed (n = 74). Findings from the present study are an important step toward understanding the relationship between different measures of sexual interest in children and establishing their validity.

Análisis psicológico de la película “The Woodsman”

The following article is an attempt to present the psychological analysis of a film by NicoleKassell, director of cinema of the United States, entitled “The Woodsman” or “The lumberjack”,a movie that is the story of Walter, a former inmate who spends twelve years in prison for sexualcrimes committed to girls and after completing his sentence, released from prison to enter ina society which is not located which does not feel belong and which remind continuously thepathological of his being. From what is shown in the film, the particularities in the experience ofthe protagonist, the diagnosis of pedophilia, will review possibilities of his childhood psychosexualdevelopment, its link with a colleague and the role of the society in similar cases.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Eye Movements in Assessing Pedophilia

Given that recurrent sexual interest in prepubescent children is one of the strongest single predictors for pedosexual offense recidivism, valid and reliable diagnosis of pedophilia is of particular importance. Nevertheless, current assessment methods still fail to fulfill psychometric quality criteria. The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of eye-movement parameters in regard to pedophilic sexual preferences. Eye movements were measured while 22 pedophiles (according to ICD-10 F65.4 diagnosis), 8 non-pedophilic forensic controls, and 52 healthy controls simultaneously viewed the picture of a child and the picture of an adult. Fixation latency was assessed as a parameter for automatic attentional processes and relative fixation time to account for controlled attentional processes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses, which are based on calculated age-preference indices, were carried out to determine the classifier performance. Cross-validation using the leave-one-out method was used to test the validity of classifiers. Pedophiles showed significantly shorter fixation latencies and significantly longer relative fixation times for child stimuli than either of the control groups. Classifier performance analysis revealed an area under the curve (AUC) = 0.902 for fixation latency and an AUC = 0.828 for relative fixation time. The eye-tracking method based on fixation latency discriminated between pedophiles and non-pedophiles with a sensitivity of 86.4% and a specificity of 90.0%. Cross-validation demonstrated good validity of eye-movement parameters. Despite some methodological limitations, measuring eye movements seems to be a promising approach to assess deviant pedophilic interests. Eye movements, which represent automatic attentional processes, demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy.

Pedophilia: A Diagnosis in Search of a Disorder

This article presents a critical review of the recent controversies concerning the diagnosis of pedophilia in the context of the preparation of the fifth edition of the DSM. The analysis focuses basically on the relationship between pedophilia and the current DSM-IV-TR's definition of mental disorder. Scholars appear not to share numerous basic assumptions ranging from their underlying ideas about what constitutes a mental disorder to the role of psychiatry in modern society, including irreconcilable theories about human sexuality, which interfere with reaching any kind of a consensus as to what the psychiatric status of pedophilia should be. It is questioned if the diagnosis of pedophilia contained in the DSM is more forensic than therapeutic, focusing rather on the dangers inherent in the condition of pedophilia (dangerous dysfunction) than on its negative effects for the subject (harmful dysfunction). The apparent necessity of the diagnosis of pedophilia in the DSM is supported, but the basis for this diagnosis is uncertain.

A Critique of the Proposed DSM-V Diagnosis of Pedophilia

A Critique of the Proposed DSM-V Diagnosis of Pedophilia

Child Pornography Use and Internet Solicitation in the Diagnosis of Pedophilia

The DSM-V Paraphilias subworkgroup has proposed anumber of changes to the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia(Blanchard, 2009a). In this commentary, I briefly discusssome of these changes in light of recent research on internet-facilitated sexual offenders and focus on the relevance ofchildpornographyandinternetsolicitationwhenconsideringthe diagnosis of pedophilia.Ascertaining Paraphilias versus Diagnosing ParaphilicDisordersThe proposed distinction between ascertaining a paraphiliawhen the sexual interest exists and making a paraphiliadiagnosis only when there is evidence of distress or impair-ment addresses the seeming paradox that a person would notbediagnosedwithpedophiliaunderDSM-IV(and,toalesserextent, DSM-IV-TR) if the person was sexually attracted toprepubescent children but was not distressed or impaired(including conflict with the law) as a result.Blanchard(2009a)suggeststhat‘‘ego-syntonic,euthymic,chaste pedophiles’’are rare. Consistent with this suggestion,Riegel (2004) found that 95% of 290 self-identified homo-sexualpedophilesrespondingtoananonymousonlinesurveyacknowledged using child pornography at some point; themajority (59%) used child pornography ‘‘frequently.’’ TheDunkelfeld Project in Berlin, which used mass mediaadvertising to recruit self-identified pedophiles wishing torefrainfromactingupontheirinterestsbycommittingsexualoffenses, found that very few individuals assessed had nohistory of child pornography use or sexual contact with aminor (e.g., Neutze, Seto, Schaefer, Mundt, & Beier, 2009).Thesubsetofwell-adjusted,sexuallyinactive(withregardtochildren) pedophiles may indeed be less common than indi-viduals who are distressed about their pedophilia or who actupon their interests, but this group is invisible in manyrespects because most of the research on pedophilia andhebephilia has involved clinical or forensic samples (seeSeto, 2008).Is Child Pornography Use a Relevant Behavior?In the absence of candid disclosure about sexual thoughts,fantasies, or urges, diagnosis is more likely to be reliable if itis based on observable behavior. Is seeking, viewing, savingorsharingchildpornographyanexpressionofpedophilicinter-ests and thus a relevant behavior (see O’Donohue, Regev, H Seto, Cantor, &Blanchard, 2006).There is an intuitive and empirical link between malesexual interests and pornography choices. One does notexpect heterosexual men to seek out pornography depictingmen only or homosexual men to seek out pornographydepictingwomenonly.Wefoundevidenceforanassociationbetween child pornography possession and pedophilia whenwe compared the phallometric test results of 100 child por-nography offenders with those of 178 sex offenders withchild victims (Seto et al., 2006). As a group, the child por-nography offenders showed significantly greater sexualarousal to children than did the offenders against children,and there was no significant difference between the 53 who

Sexual and Other Axis I Diagnoses of 60 Males Arrested for Crimes Against Children Involving the Internet

This study was conducted to describe Axis I sexual diagnoses of 60 males arrested for possession of child pornography obtained via the Internet and/or attempting to meet children via the Internet. Data was obtained from a chart review of evaluations conducted on 60 males referred for a psychosexual evaluation following an arrest for possession of child pornography and/or attempting to meet children. All crimes involved use of the Internet. Information obtained from the chart review was entered into SAS. All diagnoses were made according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Simple descriptive statistics were computed and cross tabulations were tested for significance using chi2 or Fisher's Exact test. Of the total sample, 40% had at least one paraphilia. Thirty-one percent had a diagnosis of pedophilia and 18% of a paraphilia not otherwise specified (NOS). Thirty-three percent had a sexual disorder NOS, characterized by hypersexuality. Seventy percent of the total sample had an Axis I disorder that antedated and was judged to be contributory to the behavior leading to their arrest. This sample of men arrested for committing crimes against children and adolescents via the Internet has a high incidence of lifetime sexual and other psychopathology.

Recidivism in pedophiles: an investigation using different diagnostic methods

The relationship between pedophilia and recidivism was examined in a sample of 206 extra-familial child molesters assessed at a university teaching hospital between 1982 and 1992. To address definitional issues, pedophilia was defined in one of four ways: (1) a DSM diagnosis made by a psychiatrist; (2) a deviant phallometric profile; (3) a combination of DSM diagnosis and deviant phallometric results; and, (4) high scores based on the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interest (SSPI; Seto & Lalumière, 2001). Of the various definitions for pedophilia only phallometric assessment (PAI) distinguished between sexual recidivists and nonrecidivists. Overall recidivism rates were 22.8%, 33.9%, and 45.6% for sexual, violent, and any reoffence, respectively. No differences were found between pedophiles and nonpedophiles with respect to recidivism rates, regardless of how pedophilia was defined. Based on these results, the utility of the DSM diagnosis of pedophilia for the purpose of predicting future reoffending is discussed.