Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The present study investigated differences in psychologists' attitudes toward sex offenders. The independent variables were biological sex, categorized as male and female, and amount of training in working with sex offenders, categorized as none versus some. Three hundred and fourteen participants were included in this study and a 2 x 2 Factorial ANOVA was conducted. An interaction between biological sex and training was found. Without training, female psychologists held more negative attitudes toward sex offenders than male psychologists without training. With training, female psychologists' attitudes toward sex offenders were slightly more positive than their male counterparts. A significant main effect was found for biological sex, which supported the interaction. The main effect for training was not significant. Implications of the results and recommendations for future research are discussed.

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