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Biomedical subjects

Michael C Seto

Publications and source records attributed to Michael C Seto.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Exhibitionistic and voyeuristic behavior in a Swedish national population survey.

We examined the prevalence and correlates of self-reported sexual arousal from exposing one's genitals to a stranger (exhibitionistic behavior) and spying on others having sex (voyeuristic behavior) in a representative national sample. In 1996, 2,450 randomly selected 18-60 year-olds from the general population of Sweden were interviewed in a broad survey of sexuality and health. A total of 76 (3.1%) respondents reported at least one incident of being sexually aroused by exposing their genitals to a stranger and 191 (7.7%) respondents reported at least one incident of being sexually aroused by spying on others having sex. Exhibitionistic and voyeuristic behaviors were examined for possible associations with 9 sociodemographic, 5 health, 4 risk-taking, and 17 sexuality variables. Both paraphilia-like behaviors were positively associated with being male and having more psychological problems, lower satisfaction with life, greater alcohol and drug use, and greater sexual interest and activity in general, including more sexual partners, greater sexual arousability, higher frequency of masturbation, higher frequency of pornography use, and greater likelihood of having had a same-sex sexual partner. Consistent with previous research in clinical samples of men with paraphilias, respondents who reported either exhibitionistic or voyeuristic behavior had substantially greater odds of reporting other atypical sexual behavior (sadomasochistic or cross-dressing behavior). There was evidence both for general and specific associations between sexual fantasies and their corresponding paraphilia-like behaviors. The implications of these findings for research on atypical sexual interests, atypical sexual behavior, and paraphilias are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Child pornography offenses are a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia.

This study investigated whether being charged with a child pornography offense is a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia, as represented by an index of phallometrically assessed sexual arousal to children. The sample of 685 male patients was referred between 1995 and 2004 for a sexological assessment of their sexual interests and behavior. As a group, child pornography offenders showed greater sexual arousal to children than to adults and differed from groups of sex offenders against children, sex offenders against adults, and general sexology patients. The results suggest child pornography offending is a stronger diagnostic indicator of pedophilia than is sexually offending against child victims. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Is more better? Combining actuarial risk scales to predict recidivism among adult sex offenders.

The present study was conducted to determine whether combining the results of multiple actuarial risk scales increases accuracy in predicting sex offender recidivism. Multiple methods of combining 4 validated actuarial risk scales--the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide, the Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism, and the Static-99--were evaluated in a sample of 215 adult male sex offenders. These included the intuitively appealing believe-the-negative and believe-the-positive rules, adapted from medical decision making; the combination of absolute decision thresholds across a range of cutoff scores; and the statistical optimization methods of logistic regression and principal components analyses. No combination method provided a statistically significant or consistent advantage over the predictive accuracy of the single best actuarial scale.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The criminal histories and later offending of child pornography offenders.

The likelihood that child pornography offenders will later commit a contact sexual offense is unknown. In the present study, we identified a sample of 201 adult male child pornography offenders using police databases and examined their charges or convictions after the index child pornography offense(s). We also examined their criminal records to identify potential predictors of later offenses: 56% of the sample had a prior criminal record, 24% had prior contact sexual offenses, and 15% had prior child pornography offenses. One-third were concurrently charged with other crimes at the time they were charged for child pornography offenses. The average time at risk was 2.5 years; 17% of the sample offended again in some way during this time, and 4% committed a new contact sexual offense. Child pornography offenders with prior criminal records were significantly more likely to offend again in any way during the follow-up period. Child pornography offenders who had committed a prior or concurrent contact sexual offense were the most likely to offend again, either generally or sexually.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

The screening scale for pedophilic interests predicts recidivism among adult sex offenders with child victims.

The Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests (SSPI; Seto & Lalumière, 2001), a brief measure of sexual attraction to prepubescent children that is based on victim characteristics, was used in two samples of 113 and 145 adult male sex offenders with child victims. In both samples, the SSPI was significantly and positively correlated with an index of phallometrically-measured sexual arousal to stimuli depicting prepubescent children. It was also significantly and positively correlated in both samples with violent recidivism (meaning either nonsexually violent offenses or sexual offenses involving physical contact with a victim), and positively correlated with sexual recidivism, significantly so in the second, larger sample. Focusing on the larger sample, the SSPI added to the predictive accuracy of a measure of general antisociality (the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised), while the phallometric index of sexual arousal did not add predictive accuracy once the other two measures were entered. The SSPI also yielded the same interaction between anomalous sexual interests and psychopathy we had previously reported using phallometric data (Rice & Harris, 1997). These findings suggest that the SSPI has predictive utility among adult male sex offenders with child victims, and accounts for variance in sexual offending that is not explained by phallometric testing.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

The criminogenic, clinical, and social problems of forensic and civil psychiatric patients.

Forensic psychiatric patients consume an increasing proportion of mental health resources in Canada and the United States. To inform mental health policy and practice, we compared the criminogenic, clinical, and social problems of forensic patients to those of civilly committed psychiatric patients in two Canadian studies. We predicted that forensic patients would score higher on criminogenic problems and lower on clinical and social problems than civil patients in two studies: one comparing 83 forensic and 189 civil inpatients on a clinician-completed form, the Resident Assessment Instrument--Mental Health, at an urban mental health center, and the second comparing 423 forensic and 178 civil patients assessed at different times using the Patient Problem Survey. The two studies were quite similar in their findings, despite differences in their samples, measures, and data collection methods. In both studies, forensic patients were similar to or lower than civil psychiatric patients in all criminogenic, clinical, and social problems. We conclude that forensic mental health services would benefit greatly by drawing from knowledge accumulated in the general psychiatric literature. This finding also supports the idea that many forensic patients can be appropriately diverted to nonforensic mental health services.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Pedophilia and sexual offenses against children.

This article reviews the definition and assessment of pedophilia, describes the relationship between pedophilia and sexual offenses against children, and provides an overview of our current theoretical understanding of the etiology of pedophilia. A great deal is known about the assessment of pedophilia--attributable to public and professional concerns regarding the empirical association between pedophilia and sexual offenses against children--but much remains to be learned about pedophilia, including its prevalence in the general population, cross-cultural manifestations, developmental trajectories, and causes. Recent research suggests that neurodevelopmental problems and childhood sexual abuse play a role in the etiology of pedophilia, but the mechanisms that are involved are unknown. Future directions for research on assessment methods and etiology are highlighted.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Detecting anomalous sexual interests in juvenile sex offenders.

Phallometric studies suggest that some adolescent sex offenders exhibit anomalous sexual interests. However, there have been ethical and practical objections to the phallometric testing of adolescents. Alternative measures may be needed if we are to understand the role of anomalous sexual interests in adolescent sexual offending. The Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests (SSPI) was designed as a brief measure of pedophilic interests based on sexual offense history variables: any male victims, more than one victim, any victims under age 12, and any unrelated victims. Score on the SSPI is significantly and positively correlated with phallometrically measured pedophilic interests among adult offenders against children. In this study, the SSPI was scored in three samples of adolescent sex offenders who underwent phallometric testing for pedophilic interests. Scores on the SSPI were positively correlated with a phallometric index of relative sexual arousal to children in all three samples. This relationship was strongest using visual stimuli. The positive relationship between SSPI scores and pedophilic responding held up despite the use of different penile measures, stimulus sets, procedures, and scoring methods. The usefulness of the SSPI as a proxy measure among adolescents is discussed.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2002

Distinguishing two types of adolescent sex offenders.

OBJECTIVE: To distinguish between adolescent sex offenders according to nonsexual offense history. METHOD: Thirty-two sex offenders, 48 criminally versatile offenders, and 34 nonaggressive offenders referred by youth courts for mental health assessments in Toronto, Canada between 1994 and 1997 were compared on measures of childhood conduct problems, current behavioral adjustment, antisocial attitudes and beliefs, and risk for future delinquency. Sex offenders were further divided into those without (sex-only) and those with (sex-plus) nonsexual offenses in their criminal histories. RESULTS: Sex offenders were similar to non-sex offenders in their childhood conduct problems, current behavioral adjustment, and antisocial attitudes and beliefs, but they had a lower risk for future delinquency. Sex-only offenders had significantly fewer childhood conduct problems, better current adjustment, more prosocial attitudes, and a lower risk for future delinquency than did the non-sex offender groups, whereas sex-plus offenders resembled criminally versatile offenders. CONCLUSIONS: Differences between sex-only and sex-plus offenders reflect a valid typological distinction. Discrimination between these two groups is important when assigning sex offenders to appropriate interventions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

First report of the collaborative outcome data project on the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders.

This meta-analytic review examined the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders by summarizing data from 43 studies (combined n = 9,454). Averaged across all studies, the sexual offence recidivism rate was lower for the treatment groups (12.3%) than the comparison groups (16.8%, 38 studies, unweighted average). A similar pattern was found for general recidivism, although the overall rates were predictably higher (treatment 27.9%, comparison 39.2%, 30 studies). Current treatments (cognitive-behavioral, k = 13; systemic, k = 2) were associated with reductions in both sexual recidivism (from 17.4 to 9.9%) and general recidivism (from 51 to 32%). Older forms of treatment (operating prior to 1980) appeared to have little effect. Future directions for improving the quality of sex offender treatment outcome evaluations are discussed.

Forecasting↗