1. Clinical Explanation - (From AbelScreen.com)
2. Real Life Explanation (Reaction Time - Sexual Interests)
For those Dads who have been Falsely Accused and are about to take the Abel Assessment,
be very careful and read this page CAREFULLY!

The Abel Assessment for sexual interest is supposedly the newest state-of-the-art objective measure of a possible offender’s sexual interest in children. Gene G. Abel, M.D., who formed the company in 1995, had spent the previous eight years developing a new technology to measure a person’s sexual interests in 22 categories with emphasis on his/her sexual interest in children. These are the 22 areas of sexual interest

Exhibitionism Voyeurism Masochism Sadism Sexual Affairs Transexualism Coprophilia(smelling or viewing feces for arousal)

Public Masturbation Bestiality Transvestism Sex w/ Strangers Pedophilia(sexual arousal and desires or fantasies involving sexual impulses toward a pre-adolescent child or children.)

Fetishism Obscene Phone PSM Telephone Sex Frottage(rubbing body against partner or object for arousal )

Rape Prostitutes Pornography Necrophilia(sexual attraction to dead bodies )

The Social Desirability Score is calculated from items 29 through 48 in Section IV of the AASI Questionnaire for Men. This scale measures a person’s unwillingness to admit to any violation of common social mores, such as impatience, feelings of anger, etc. A high score may indicate the client’s inability to respond truthfully to others.

The Cognitive Distortion Score is calculated from items 93 through 105 in Section I of the AASI Questionnaire for Men. These items describe potential justifications frequently used by clients who are sexually involved with children. A higher score suggests a greater use of such cognitive distortions.

Abel Screening Sites

This tool does this by having the offender being evaluated look at 160 slides of boys and girls, men and women and, after he has gotten familiar with them, rating them on a seven point scale on a computer, the ratings being how disgusted or aroused he was by what he looked at. When the offender has completed the above step, which he easily does within 20 to 30 minutes, the results are sent over the Internet to Dr. Abel's clinic in Atlanta, GA and the results are faxed back. In addition to viewing the slides, the offender also completes a lengthy questionnaire which asks him about his interest in a variety of sexually deviant behaviors, The information is also sent to Dr. Abel's clinic and the results are faxed back.

For those Dads who have been Falsely Accused and are about to take the Abel Assessment, be very careful and read this section!

What does the Abel Assessment REALLY measure?

All of the above information about the abel Assessment is true, but what does it REALLY measure. During the first part of the test, it very simply measures your REACTION TIME for various pictures and how you rate each picture. You will be shown 160 slides of boys, girls, men and women dressed normally, dressed in underwear, dressed with bathing suits and in different situations. Some scenes will depict subjects tied up to reflect "bondage". Some scenes will show ladies dressing through a window. Some scenes will show a man touching people in public.

REACTION TIME - You will be shown these series of slides 2 times, the first time ONLY measures how long you view each slide. If you view a particular slide longer than the developers of this test believe that you have a desire to be attracted to this sexually deviant behavior. In other words, if you take longer to look at a picture of a lady dressing through a window, then you have an interest in voyerism. If you look longer at children in bathing suits, then you have sexual interests in children. If you take longer to view a picture of a women in bondage, then you probably have a sexual desire towards this behavior. This may not be true, but if you make the mistake of taking extra time, then you WILL be labelled as a child molester, a person who enjoys voyerism, or a person who enjoys bondage.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED A LONG REACTION TIME? - It is all based on your average time looking at all of the pictures. If you look at each the "normal" pictures for 2 seconds, and look at the more perverted pictures for 5 seconds, plan of being labelled "a pervert". I don't want to tell you what to do, but if you are a normal person, then your reaction time to the perverted pictures will be LESS than the normal pictures.

The second time through the slides, you will rate the slides on a scale of 1-7. If you believe the image is "thoroughly disgusting or revolting", then select "1". If the image is sexually exciting, then select "7". There are no "right or wrong answers", but you need to understand that this test is supposed to measure your opinion of having a sexual relation with these people, not just your opinion of these pictures. A picture of a child in a bathing suit may not be revolting to you, but having a sexual relation with this child is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

After you have viewed and rated the pictures, the next part is the questionnaire. This part is very straight forward, but you should understand that a "normal person" DOES have feelings such as impatience, feelings of anger and has viewed some pornography. If you answer the questions and state that ... you do not get angry ... you do not become impatient ... or you have never viewed pornography, then the developers of this test will consider that you are NOT truthful. ... Not Good!

FINAL THOUGHTS - I do not want to tell you what what the right answers are to the various questions, nor is this page devoted to "deceiving the Abel Assessment". Rather it is to educate you on what the Abel Assessment REALLY tests. Also understand that this test will not determine whether you have committed a crime or not, but rather it will determine whether you have tendencies towards abnormal sexual desires.

For those Dads who have been Falsely Accused and are about to take the Abel Assessment, be very careful and re-read this page!

'The Sex-Offender Test', By MAURICE CHAMMAH