THE ADOLESCENT SEXUAL INTEREST CARD SORT - TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY AND CONCURRENT VALIDITY IN RELATION TO PHALLOMETRIC ASSESSMENT

Test-retest reliability and concurrent validity studies on the Adolesc ent Sexual interest Card Sort (ASIC) were conducted in two samples of 38 juvenile sexual offenders, each. Of the 64 items of the ASIC, 60 we re found to be significantly correlated across test administrations. C ronbach's coefficient alpha was employed to determine the internal con sistency of ASIC items. Coefficients ranged from .62 to .96 across cat egories with an overall alpha of .97. Client ratings of sexual interes ts via the Card Sort were correlated with phallometric response to sim ilar categories of stimuli. Significant correlations were found for on ly 4 of the 14 categories examined suggesting little correspondence be tween client report of sexual interest on the ASIC and phallometric as sessment of the same. Findings are consistent with the adult Sex offen der literature suggesting that self-report measures are particularly v ulnerable to dissimulation and often at variance with more objective m easurement. Clinical and research issues pertinent to the measurement of sexual arousal and interest in juvenile sexual of fenders are discu ssed.