Attraction to Sexual Violence Towards Women, Sexual Abuse of Children, and Non-Sexual Criminal Behavior: Testing the Specialist vs. Generalist Models in Male College Students

A sample of 492 college men anonymously completed an expanded version of the Sexual Experiences Survey, the revised Attraction to Sexual Aggression Scale, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale Short Form to investigate the relations among perpetration of sexual violence (including rape and sexual assault), attraction to sexual violence, attraction to childhood sexual abuse, and attraction towards other crimes while controlling for the impact of social desirability. Analyses indicated that attractions towards sexual violence, general criminality, and childhood sexual abuse were all significantly interrelated. In addition, sexual assault perpetrators reported higher levels of all three types of attraction as compared to nonperpetrators whereas rape perpetrators reported higher levels of attraction to sexual aggression and criminality. Clinical and research implications are discussed.