Response Inhibition in People Convicted of Sexual Offences, 2020-2023

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The work forms part of a project that employed a solution-focused approach to examine the psychological processes that could be targeted to ensure potential high-risk groups, such as men who view online child sexual exploitation material but have not engaged in contact sexual offences, do not harm children. The collection contains data from participants convicted of sexual offences against children and non-offending controls. This was a response inhibition task. The task included no-go trials and stop signal trials. Participants had to either withhold (no-go) or cancel (stop signal) a behavioural response to visually presented stimuli. Stimuli included digitally manipulated images of adults and children in swimwear. Accuracy and response time data were analysed. Results showed that people with convictions for sexual offences against children showed more problematic response inhibition in comparison to non-offending controls.

This project will use a solution-focussed approach to identify the psychological processes that can be targeted to ensure that potential high risk groups, such as men who view online child sexual exploitation material, but who have not committed contact sexual offences, do not abuse and harm children. The last four years have seen a steep upward trend in the number of recorded sexual offences against children under 16, and as recently as 2017 there has been a marked increase in sexual activity involving a child under 13. However, we know that some men who view online child sexual exploitation material will never progress to committing contact offences: therefore, the identification of protective factors is a key approach that may help to identify potential treatment targets and reduce child sexual abuse. To understand why, we need to know if contact sexual offenders are distinguishable from 'online-only' offenders and offender and non-offender controls in 1) theory of mind abilities, that is, the ability to understand others' thoughts, feelings, intentions and beliefs; 2) affective resonance with others' pain, that is, the ability to vicariously experience the pain of another; and 3) the ability to inhibit a prepotent response. The objectives of the proposed work are to use tests of social-affective functioning and response inhibition, and physiological measures, to create a psychological profile that can distinguish between online-only and contact sexual offenders and help to identify the psychological processes that protect against contact sexual offending. The results of this research will aid the design of psychologically informed treatment programs with the ultimate aim of reducing contact sexual offending and protecting children from harm. These results will be communicated to scientists, policy makers, treatment providers, and relevant charitable organisations to inform future prevention and intervention efforts and keep children safe.