by rbartels | Oct 19, 2016 | Publications
Good news!
PhD student Danielle Kettleborough and her supervisor Dr Hannah Merdian have had a paper published in the Journal of Sexual Aggression. The paper is entitled “Gateway to offending behaviour: permission-giving thoughts of online users of child sexual exploitation material” and involved thematically analysing the views of 16 forensic professionals regarding their views on the thinking patterns of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) users. Four overarching themes were identified. (1) Perceived Nature of Children (perception of children portrayed in CSEM, as well as children in general), (2) Non-sexual Engagement with CSEM (motivating factors that are not inherently sexual in nature), (3) Denial of Harm (perception of the level of harm caused by CSEM), and (4) Expression of a General Sexual Preference (general interest in deviant sexual behaviour). Danielle and Hannah discuss the important implication that this study offers, including theoretical insight (e.g., differences between CSEM subtypes) and practical utility (e.g., moving towards developing a scale). The article can be found here
Hannah Merdian has also had another paper published (in Psychology, Crime, & Law) along with two of her ex-MSc students (Rebecca Crookes & Charlotte Hassett). The paper is entitled ” ‘So what about the stories?’ An exploratory study of the definition, use, and function of Narrative Child Sexual Exploitation Material”. It reports a study on a topic that has received very little attention in the field; namely, CSEM that is narrative-based (i.e., non-visual) or N-CSEM. In an attempt to define and conceptualise N-CSEM, the authors interviewed 11 professionals who had worked with N-CSEM users. Using thematic analysis with the interview data, 3 overarching themes emerged with regards to N-CSEM: (1) conceptual and legal definitions; (2) considering harm of N-CSEM; and (3) function of N-CSEM. As the authors state, “the study provides insight into N-CSEM as a separate entity from visual CSEM, challenging and informing legal decision-making and assessment and treatment providers for users of CSEM”. The study also provides researches with a base from which to begin exploring N-CSEM more deeply. The article can found here
by rbartels | Jul 15, 2016 | Publications
Good cheer!!! Dr Amanda Roberts (of the the FCRG) has just had two papers accepted for publication
The first reports the results of six focus-groups conducted with 40 gamblers to uncover the aspects of Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) that they found most attractive. Results revealed that two broad groups of characteristics emerged from the data; one linked to winning and the other with betting. For more info, follow the link below.
Landon, J., du Preez, K. P., Page, A., Bellringer, M., Roberts, A., & Abbott, M. (2016). Electronic Gaming Machine Characteristics: It’s the Little Things That Count. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-15. DOI: 10.1007/s11469-016-9666-2
The second reports the results of a study examining gambling and violence in a sample of 3025 adults males from the UK. It was found that, after adjusting for alcohol and drug dependence, comorbid mental disorder and impulsivity, problem gambling was shown to be predictive of various measures of violent behaviour. For more, follow the link below.
Roberts, A.D. L., Coid, J., King, R., Murphy, R., Turner, J., Bowden-Jones, H & Landon, J (2016). Gambling and violence in a nationally representative sample of UK men. Addiction. DOI: 10.1111/add.13522.
by rbartels | Jul 2, 2016 | Publications
A new study has just been published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research & Treatment by FCRG members Craig Harper and Dr Ross Bartels, entitled “Implicit Theories and Offender Representativeness in Judgments About Sexual Crime“.
Using a sample of 252 community participants, the paper examines the interacting effect of implicit theories about sexual offenders and offender type (i.e., adult male; adult female; or male juvenile) on judgements of moral character and sentencing. The results showed that people with an entity implicit theory about sexual offenders (i.e., believing they cannot change) held more negative attitudes towards sexual offenders than did those with incremental implicit theories (believing sex offenders change).
Moreover, compared with those with an incremental implicit theory of sexual offenders, entity theorists judged sexual offending to be: (a) more indicative of the perpetrator’s moral character; and (b) more deserving of punishment. However, these scores were greater in relation to the adult male offender than the adult female and juvenile offender. Finally, a greater number of participants with an entity implicit theory provided dispositional explanations for the perpetrator’s offending behaviour than did the incrementalists, who provided more situational explanations.
The study indicates that implicit theories about sexual offenders affect judgements about sexual offenders, although for entitists, this is moderated by whether the case they are judging is representative of a stereotypical sexual offender.
For more information, please contact with Craig Harper at craigaharper19@gmail.com or Dr Ross Bartels at rbartels@lincoln.ac.uk
by rbartels | Apr 12, 2016 | Publications
We are pleased to announce that FCRG members Dr Hannah Merdian, Dr Nima Moghaddam, and Dr Dave Dawson (in conjunction with numerous other external co-authors) have just had a new paper published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.
Using a sample of 68 offenders, the study had two core goals: (1) to determine whether the offending profile of ‘child sexual exploitation material offenders’ (CSEMOs) is distinct to contact child sexual offenders (CSOs); and (2) to investigate whether distinct subgroups of CSEM users can be empirically differentiated.
Using numerical and spatial methods of data analysis on a variety of clinical and risk-related variables, the results supported the dichotomous distinction between fantasy-driven versus contact-driven CSEM offending. Further analyses identified three dimensions as crucial for the classification of these two subgroups: (a) direct sexual contact with a minor; (b) possession of fantasy-generating material, and (c) social contact with other users that have a sexual interest in minors. This study offers important new insights into the understanding the risks and needs of CSEM users.
Citation: Hannah L. Merdian, Nima Moghaddam, Douglas P. Boer, Nick Wilson, Jo Thakker, Cate Curtis, and Dave Dawson (2016). Fantasy-Driven Versus Contact-Driven Users of Child Sexual Exploitation Material: Offender Classification and Implications for Their Risk Assessment. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. doi:10.1177/1079063216641109
by rbartels | Dec 16, 2015 | Publications
FCRG members – Dr. Ross Bartels and Dr. Hannah Merdian – have recently published an article detailing an initial conceptualisation of the implicit theories held by fantasy-driven child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) users. Using a grounded theory approach to analyse the existing literature on CSEM users, Bartels and Merdian propose five CSEM-related implicit theories, each of which is contextualised by a general assumption about the reinforcing nature of the Internet. The five implicit theories include:
Unhappy World (a view that the world is uninterested and/or rejecting – linked to self-regulatory online behaviour)
Self as Uncontrollable (perception of oneself as “addicted” to the online behaviour)
Children as Sex Objects (dehumanising view of children as sexual objects)
Self as Collector (detached perception of CSEM as collectibles)
Nature of Harm (CSEM variant) (denial of role in the abuse cycle and minimisation of harm in CSEM)
.
This paper marks the first published article on this topic and is hoped to be a valuable contribution to the literature.
The article can accessed for free (up until 02/02/16) via this link
