TY - JOUR
T1 - Construction and preliminary validation of the cognitive and emotional congruence with children (C-ECWC) scale
AU - Paquette, Sarah
AU - McPhail, Ian V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 american psychological association.
PY - 2020/8/1
Y1 - 2020/8/1
N2 - Emotional congruence with children is central in understanding why some adults pursue sexual contact with children. Although self-report scales have been developed to assess for emotional congruence with children, these scales have equivocal latent structure and less than desirable performance in validation research. Further, these scales were not developed to assess emotional congruence with children in individuals who commit Internet-facilitated offenses. In the current study, a sample of men with histories of Internet-facilitated sexual offenses, contact sexual offenses against children, and nonsexual offenses was used to examine factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and known-group validity of the newly developed Cognitive and Emotional Congruence with Children (C-ECWC) scale. The scale had a three-factor latent structure, adequate internal consistency and adequately captured the nomological network of correlates and group differences anticipated for a measure of emotional congruence with children. Implications for scale validation and use in future research into emotional congruence with children are discussed.
AB - Emotional congruence with children is central in understanding why some adults pursue sexual contact with children. Although self-report scales have been developed to assess for emotional congruence with children, these scales have equivocal latent structure and less than desirable performance in validation research. Further, these scales were not developed to assess emotional congruence with children in individuals who commit Internet-facilitated offenses. In the current study, a sample of men with histories of Internet-facilitated sexual offenses, contact sexual offenses against children, and nonsexual offenses was used to examine factor structure, internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and known-group validity of the newly developed Cognitive and Emotional Congruence with Children (C-ECWC) scale. The scale had a three-factor latent structure, adequate internal consistency and adequately captured the nomological network of correlates and group differences anticipated for a measure of emotional congruence with children. Implications for scale validation and use in future research into emotional congruence with children are discussed.
KW - classical test theory
KW - emotional congruence with children
KW - item response theory
KW - scale development
KW - sexual offending against children
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85084676516&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/pas0000832
DO - 10.1037/pas0000832
M3 - Article
C2 - 32338938
AN - SCOPUS:85084676516
SN - 1040-3590
VL - 32
SP - 739
EP - 751
JO - Psychological Assessment
JF - Psychological Assessment
IS - 8
ER -