Molest Scale

The Molest Scale is supposedly designed to measure the cognitive distortions of child molesters.

Description

"The cognitive distortions of sexual offenders are considered to be influential in the etiology and maintenance of deviant sexual behavior and are commonly accepted as valid predictors of treatment potential and success, despite the lack of systematic research to support these assumptions. Contributing to this gap in the research is the shortage of psychometrically sound assessment techniques to measure these cognitive distortions." "The present paper describes the development and validation of the MOLEST Scales, designed to respectively assess the cognitive distortions of child molesters."

Properties

• 38 items
• "Results indicate that the MOLEST Scales is a promising clinical and research measures, demonstrating strong internal consistency and reliability, convergent and discriminative validity, freedom from a socially desirable response bias, and utility in assessing the efficacy of a cognitive restructuring treatment component."

Sample items

• I believe that sex with children can make the child feel closer to adults.
• When kids don't tell that they were involved in sexual activity with an adult it is probably because they liked it or weren't bothered by it.
• Society makes a much bigger deal out of sexual activity with children than it really is.
• Children who have been involved in sexual activity with an adult will eventually get over it and go on with their lives.
• A lot of times, kids make up stories about people molesting them because they want to get attention.