[Aggressiveness, assertiveness, and sexual deviance: An empirical-quantitative examination of Stoller's perversion theory].

Aggressiveness, assertiveness, and sexual deviance: An empirical-quantitative examination of Stoller's perversion theory

Objectives

The main aim of the present study was to empirically examinate the psychodynamic-founded perversion theory of Robert D. Stoller (1979), particularly his assumption of a transformation of aggressive impulses into sexual deviant fantasies due to traumatic experiences.

Methods

In the present study different aspects of the theory were examined by using a sample (N = 954) of individuals convicted of sexually motivated offenses who had been clinically and forensically assessed between 2002 and 2018 at the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECVSO) in the Austrian Prison System. As a part of the psychological testing procedure, German-speaking questionnaires for the assessment of aggressiveness and assertiveness were applied.

Results

The results indicated that participants with a diagnosis of paraphilia showed significantly less spontaneously expressed aggression and less social competence compared to individuals without such a diagnosis.

Conclusions

The findings of the present study are in line with the core assumptions of Stoller's perversion theory by demonstrating an inverse relationship between the diagnosis of paraphilia and self-reported aggression.