HETEROSEXUAL AGGRESSORS VS. ADULTS: MASTURBATION

The incidence of postpubescent masturbation among aggressors vs. adults, and the median age at which it began, are in no way noteworthy.

The tendency to have high frequencies of masturbation before marriage, which we saw in the aggressors vs. minors, is seen again among the aggressors vs. adults. The mean frequency remains high between the ages of twenty-one and thirty. The average (median) individual occupied an intermediate to high-intermediate position in the rank-orders up to the age of twenty-five, but leaped to third rank during age-period 26-30 with an absolute as well as a relative increase in masturbation frequency. In any age-period, regardless of whether one views the mean or median, the aggressors vs. adults masturbate with considerably more frequency than the controls.

The tendency to rise in rank-order with increasing age seems a trait of the aggressors vs. minors and adults, and suggests some unfulfilled sexual needs. The abrupt increase in frequencies between the ages of twenty-six and thirty displayed by the aggressors vs. adults is ominous, especially since their premarital coitus diminished at this time. Among the married aggressors vs. adults who masturbated while married, this same increase at twenty-six to thirty is noted in the calculation of average (mean) frequency: the increase is from roughly twice a month to 5 times a month, the third highest frequency recorded for this age-period. This change is, however, not reflected when one calculates the masturbation frequencies of the average (median) aggressor vs. adults, which are neither high nor low.

The proportion of total outlet derived from masturbation shows an interesting change. In both the never married and the married the proportions are moderate or even a bit low until age-period 26-30 when they increase, with the result that those who were never married achieve second place in the rank-order with 49 per cent of their outlet being masturbatory, while the married men reach third place with 10 per cent. In the following age-period the never married drew somewhat less of their total outlet from masturbation (39 per cent, fourth in rank-order) but the married drew even more, reaching second place in rank-order with 13 per cent of their orgasms from masturbation. This emphasis on masturbation among both the single and married after age twenty-six is unusual in a heterosexual group, and quite unlike the two control groups.

Like the heterosexual aggressors vs. minors, the aggressors vs. adults were unusually prone to fantasy. Moreover, they rank second only to the aggressors vs. minors in the percentage with sadomasochistic (9 per cent) fantasies—an omen of the offenses for which they were ultimately convicted. This high rank with regard to sadomasochistic fantasy we shall see parallels their responsiveness to sadomasochistic-stories and pictures.

The aggressors vs. adults were less prone than other aggressors to worry over their masturbation, but nevertheless fall in the upper half of a rank-order of “worriers.”