The discriminative validity of a phallometric test for pedophilic interests among adolescent sex offenders against children

The authors examined the responses of adolescent sex offenders against chil dren on a phallometric test of pedophilic interests. Participants mere 40 a dolescent sex offenders against children, 75 young adult sex offenders agai nst children, and 39 young adult comparison participants. The responses of adolescents with female victims resembled those of comparison participants; adolescents with any male victims had larger relative responses to child s timuli than comparison participants. Young adult offenders, regardless of v ictim sex, had larger relative responses to child stimuli than comparison p articipants. Using a cut score of 0 (indicating equal or greater arousal to children than to adults), sensitivity was 42% for adolescents with any mal e victims, and specificity was 92% for the comparison participants. Results suggest phallometric testing can identify pedophilic interests among these adolescent sex offenders.