Socially desirable responding and offence characteristics among rapists

Area of Science:

• Forensic Psychology
• Criminology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Socially desirable responding (SDR) is a potential confound in offender research.
• Understanding SDR in sexual offenders is crucial for accurate assessment and treatment.
• Previous research has not fully explored the link between SDR and specific offense characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between socially desirable responding (SDR) and offense characteristics in a sample of rapists.
• To examine whether SDR scales correlate with perpetrator-victim relationship, victim injury severity, and victim age.

Main Methods:

• Forty-nine incarcerated rapists participated in the study.
• Socially desirable responding was assessed using the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR).
• Offense characteristics, including victim injury and age, were analyzed against BIDR scores.

Main Results:

• Higher levels of victim injury were significantly associated with lower scores on Impression Management (r = -.27, p < .03) and Denial (r = -.32, p < .01) facets of SDR.
• No significant correlations were found between offense characteristics and the self-deceptive scales of the BIDR (Denial of the Negative, Over Confident Rigidity).
• These findings challenge the simple underreporting hypothesis for SDR in this population.

Conclusions:

• The results suggest that self-presentation strategies and the adoption of socially acceptable behaviors may better explain the observed SDR patterns in rapists.
• Findings have implications for clinical assessments and therapeutic interventions with sexual offenders, highlighting the role of impression management.
• Future research should explore the nuances of self-presentation and skill acquisition in offender populations.