Clinical characteristics associated with paedophilia and child sex offending – Differentiating sexual preference from offence status

Publication date: June 2018 Source:European Psychiatry, Volume 51 Author(s): Hannah Gerwinn, Simone Weiß, Gilian Tenbergen, Till Amelung, Carina Födisch, Alexander Pohl, Claudia Massau, Jonas Kneer, Sebastian Mohnke, Christian Kärgel, Matthias Wittfoth, Stefanie Jung, Krassimira Drumkova, Kolja Schiltz, Martin Walter, Klaus M. Beier, Henrik Walter, Jorge Ponseti, Boris Schiffer, Tillmann H.C. Kruger Contrary to public perception, child sex offending (CSO) and paedophilia are not the same. Only half of all cases of CSO are motivated by paedophilic preference, and a paedophilic preference does not necessarily lead to CSO. However, studies that investigated clinical factors accompanying and contributing to paedophilia so far mainly relied on paedophiles with a history of CSO. The aim of this study was to distinguish between factors associated with sexual preference (paedophile versus non-paedophile) and offender status (with versus without CSO). Accordingly, a 2 (sexual preference) × 2 (offender status) factorial design was used for a comprehensive clinical assessment of paedophiles with and without a history of CSO (n = 83, n = 79 respectively), child sex offenders without paedophilia (n = 32) and healthy controls (n = 148). Results indicated that psychiatric comorbidities, sexual dysfunctions and adverse childhood experiences were more common among paedophiles and child sex offenders than controls. Offenders and non-offenders diffe...
Source: European Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research