Measuring deviant sexual interest in adolescents using the emotional Stroop task

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Adolescent sexual abusers often receive generic services based on adult offender research.
• The emotional Stroop task is used to measure deviant sexual interest in adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the emotional Stroop task for assessing deviant sexual interest in adolescent sexual abusers.
• To compare task performance between adolescent sexual abusers, offending controls, and nonoffending controls.

Main Methods:

• Three groups of adolescents (sexual abusers, offending controls, nonoffending controls) completed emotional Stroop tasks and executive function tests.
• Reaction time and Stroop bias were measured to assess deviant sexual interest.

Main Results:

• Adolescent sexual abusers were slower in color-naming certain emotional stimuli compared to control groups.
• The emotional Stroop task failed to significantly differentiate groups across most Stroop word categories.
• Outcome data from adolescent samples were less systematic and weaker than adult data.

Conclusions:

• The emotional Stroop task demonstrated limited utility in assessing deviant sexual interest in adolescent sexual abusers.
• Potential reading and developmental challenges may render the emotional Stroop task unsuitable for this age group.
• Further research is needed to develop appropriate assessment tools for adolescent sexual offenders.