An Assessment of the Scalability of Bumby's Child MOLEST Scale

• In Event: Empirical research in Sex Offender Assessment, Sentencing and Treatment

Abstract

Prior researchers have identified cognitive distortions that are common among sexual offenders with child victims. Identification of these distortions is critical to the assessment and treatment of this population. An often used scale is Bumby’s MOLEST scale. The individual items that comprise this scale have largely been derived by guesswork or borrowed from other measures. For the purpose of identifying the underlying constructs, the MOLEST scores of 97 offenders who sexually abused children were factor analyzed. The results suggest that the underlying cognitive distortions are far from parsimonious in that they do not statistically load into a small number of distinct factors. Moreover, the factors cannot be logically organized by qualitatively distinct categories, such as excusing/justifying behavior, as previous scales have done. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders with child victims.

Authors

• H. Jaymi Elsass, Texas State University

• Donna M. Vandiver, Texas State University

• Mark Stafford, Texas State University