THE INFLUENCE OF THERAPIST VALUES, RELIGIOSITY AND GENDER IN THE INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF SEXUAL ADDICTION BY FAMILY THERAPISTS

A total of 400 randomly selected clinical members of the American Asso ciation for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions in which sex of the client and two extremes of sexual relationships (married and monogamous or nonmarrie d with varied partners) were experimentally controlled in a descriptio n of sexual interaction between two consenting adults. It was hypothes ized that therapist values about sex outside of marriage, gender stere otypes regarding sexual activities, and sex and religiosity of the res pondent would influence assessment of sexual addiction in vignettes re ad for the experiment. Results of the 199 (49%) marriage and family th erapists who responded revealed that single male and single female cli ents with varied partners vignettes were pathologized more than monoga mous married male and female vignettes. Male subjects tended to pathol ogize client vignettes more than female subjects. Highly religious mal es saw clients as more sexually addicted than did low religious males, low religious females, and high religious females.