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This project describes the first in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 1 empirically assesses the prevalence and psychological risk factors associated with the past sexual aggression of male students at one UK university.

This project describes the fourth in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 4 assesses the short and longer-term effectiveness of an evidence-based online behavioural self-help intervention designed to reduce the propensity towards sexual aggression of UK university male students.

This project describes the first in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 1 empirically assesses the prevalence and psychological risk factors associated with the past sexual aggression of male students at one UK university.

This project describes the seventh in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 7 extends a previously pre-registered study associated with this project (“Study 3”; https://osf.io/n73wy/) by using a broader sample to examine whether male university students in the UK who self-report recent sexual aggression can be classified into meaningful subgroups based on their responses to key psychological and demographic variables associated with their risk of sexual assault perpetration.

This project describes the second and third in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 2 empirically assesses the prevalence and psychological risk factors associated with the past sexual aggression of male students across UK universities and is a follow-up to "Study 1" (https://osf.io/4ht8m/). Study 3 combines data from Studies 1 and 2 to explore whether there are distinct typologies of sexually aggressive male students in the UK, who can be classified and statistically differentiated by the psychological risk factors associated with their past offending behaviours. 20/09/21 UPDATE: Please note that, in the interest of scientific rigour, Study 3 has since been replaced by "Study 7" (https://osf.io/rj78t/). This new study allows for a more powerful and valid cluster analysis. Please refer to our Study 7 pre-registration for additional information.

This project describes the second and third in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 2 empirically assesses the prevalence and psychological risk factors associated with the past sexual aggression of male students across UK universities and is a follow-up to "Study 1" (https://osf.io/4ht8m/). Study 3 combines data from Studies 1 and 2 to explore whether there are distinct typologies of sexually aggressive male students in the UK, who can be classified and statistically differentiated by the psychological risk factors associated with their past offending behaviours. 20/09/21 UPDATE: Please note that, in the interest of scientific rigour, Study 3 has since been replaced by "Study 7" (https://osf.io/rj78t/). This new study allows for a more powerful and valid cluster analysis. Please refer to our Study 7 pre-registration for additional information.

This project describes the fifth and sixth in a series of empirical research studies conducted by the lead author for his PhD, which explores male sexual aggression at UK universities. Study 5 empirically assesses the prevalence and relationship-level and situation-relevant risk factors associated with the past sexual aggression of male students across UK universities. Study 6 replicates Study 5, examining instead institution-level risk factors.

This project describes a meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of offence specific treatments for individuals who have offended.

Validates a previously designed firesetting questionnaire developed in doi 10.17605/OSF.IO/YT9AM

The current study aims to develop and validate the Social Desirability Scale-Sexual (SDS-S). The SDS-S aims to measure the likelihood of participants’ self-reported responses to more sensitive, sexual questions, such as those used in the sexual offending literature, being honest.

Survey of clinicians' pereptions of the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the assessment and treatment of individuals with a history of deliberate firesetting

This is a copy of my previous project "Why women stay in relationships with individuals who have committed different offences". Instead of recruiting from a student population, I will recruit participants from different local UK subreddits. Participants will need to be in a longer-term relationship than in the previous project (min. 1 year as compared to the previous two months), and half of the participants will have a child with their partner so I can identify the role this may play. I have also included a different measure of interpersonal dependency as the DPQ had to be excluded in my last study due to insufficient internal consistency.

Although romantic relationships are essential for rehabilitation of individuals who have sexually offended (ISO), little is known about why partners decide to stay in or leave the relationship after finding out about an offence. In this study, participants will complete questionnaires assessing factors which may be related to this decision-making process (i.e., attitudes towards ISO, relationship satisfaction, dependent personality, sexism & acceptance of myths about sexual aggression). Afterwards, they will be presented with a vignette which describes their partner committing an offence. Depending on the condition the participant is allocated to, this will be a violent offence, sexual harassment, or rape. We predict that participants will be more likely to stay in the relationship when their partner has committed a non-sexual offence. We also predict that higher levels of relationship satisfaction and dependent personality predict higher levels of willingness to continue the relationship, regardless of the offence committed. Due to the scarcity of research in this area we also pose an exploratory research question: Do the characteristics assessed through the remaining questionnaire measures (i.e., attitudes towards ISO, sexism & acceptance of myths about sexual aggression) predict relationship continuation in partners of ISO better than in partners of violent offenders?

Purpose: VR is a novel technology that could be used in the assessment and/or treatment of deliberate firesetting. This study aimed to develop an understanding of clinicians’ views of VR for deliberate firesetting, in order to identify areas where VR could potentially add value to current practice and any particular barriers to using VR in this context. \ud Methodology: Through an online survey, 73 clinicians rated their agreement with nine potential benefits of using VR for firesetting and 11 potential barriers to using it. They also provided free text responses detailing the greatest perceived potential benefit and the greatest perceived barrier. Factors related to intent to use VR for firesetting in the future were explored. \ud Findings: Clinicians perceived the ability to safely expose clients to fire-related stimuli to be highly beneficial. However, clinicians were concerned about the possibility of re-traumatisation and logistic barriers. Previous experience of using VR with individuals who have set fires was significantly related to using it in the future.\ud Practical implications: Further research establishing the feasibility and effectiveness of using VR with individuals who have set fires may help alleviate clinicians’ concerns. Increasing opportunities for clinicians to experience a firesetting VR programme may widen implementation of firesetting VR. \ud Originality/value: Previous research has only focused on clinicians’ perceptions of VR in the general field of forensic mental health and has failed to consider offence-specific applications.

Deliberate firesetting is a prevalent form of offending that has devastating consequences for societies worldwide (Tyler et al., 2019). The most recent comprehensive theory of deliberate firesetting by adults, The Multi-Trajectory Theory of Adult Firesetting (M-TTAF; Gannon et al., 2012, 2022), has suggested key psychological vulnerabilities associated with firesetting. These vulnerabilities can be broadly grouped into four areas: fire-related factors (including fire interest); offence-supportive attitudes; self and emotional regulation issues; and issues with social competence. Research has demonstrated that psychometric measures tapping into these areas show differences across adults with a history of firesetting and adults who have engaged in other criminal activity (Gannon et al., 2013), indicating that adults who have set fires have distinct treatment needs, relative to other offenders. It has recently been established that approximately 1 in 5 individuals who have previously set fires will go on to repeat this behaviour (Sambrooks et al., 2021). Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we have an understanding of why these individuals set multiple fires. Retrospective file reviews have provided some evidence supporting specific risk factors for repeat firesetting (e.g., fire interest; see Tyler et al., 2015). However, it has not yet been established whether adults who have set only one fire and those who have set multiple fires differ in terms of their treatment needs, as assessed by psychological psychometric measures. Therefore, it is crucial that we investigate whether assessments of firesetting treatment needs are able to distinguish individuals on the basis of their repeat firesetting status.