Independent data sets from phallometric assessment studies were analyzed to examine methods of maximizing the discriminant validity of phallometric testing. Community volunteers and non-sexoffender patients were compared with rapists and child molesters recruited primarily from a maximum security psychiatric institution. The results indicated that the discriminant validity of phallometric assessments is enhanced by the use of (a) z (rather than raw) scores to compensate for individual differences in responsivity, (b) deviance indexes (computed by calculating the difference in responsivity between deviant and nondeviant stimuli) rather than responses to deviant categories alone, (c) stimuli depicting brutal sexual coercion, and (d) pubescent stimuli for assessing sexual age preferences. Discriminant validity was unimpaired by including subjects with low levels of response. The implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

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A semistructured questionnaire was administered to 50 male prostitutes and 50 nonprostitutes matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status. The questionnaire focused on areas pertaining to family, sexual and criminal history, current life situation, sexual practices with clients, substance abuse, etc. In addition, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale were administered to 35 subjects from each group. Results indicated that there were differences between the groups but that these differences did not entirely support the demographic profile offered by previous researchers. Specifically, our findings suggest that factors related to family background may be less important as potential determinants for entry into prostitution than influences related to financial gain, sexual orientation (homosexuality), and early sexual experiences.

There are presently three widely used methods of scoring penile circumference data. The present experiment attempted to determine the ability of each method to explain the variance within a data set. A total of 19 subjects were presented with 20 photographic slides assigned to five categories: neutral, female adult, female adolescent, male adult, and male adolescent. Erectile responses to each slide were recorded and the data analyzed in terms of the raw scores, percentage of full erection, and a z-score transformation. Results indicated that the z scores captured the highest proportion of the variance (52.7%), followed by the percentage scores (32.5%), and the raw scores (30.1%). Findings are discussed in terms of their research and clinical implications.