An exploration of developmental factors related to deviant sexual preferences among adult rapists.

The aim of this study was to investigate developmental factors related to deviant sexual preferences in a sample of 118 sexual aggressors against women. For each subject, developmental factors were collected through a semistructured interview, whereas sexual preferences were assessed phallometrically using French translations of audiotaped stimuli developed by G. G. Abel, E. B. Blanchard, J. V. Becker, and A. Djenderedjian (1978). Using multiple regression analyses, our results showed that a sexually inappropriate family environment, use of pornography during childhood and adolescence, and deviant sexual fantasies during childhood and adolescence are related to the development of deviant sexual preferences. These results are in agreement with Knight and Sims-Knight's model of sexual aggression (R. A. Knight & J. E. Sims-Knight, in press).