Personality features of sexual offenders who committed offences against children

ABSTRACT

While attention has been given to maladaptive personality traits in the sexual offending literature, little is known about how individuals who engage in child sexual abuse (CSOs) score on general personality traits, and how subgroups of CSOs vary in these traits. This study investigated general personality traits of (subgroups of) CSOs (n=57) as compared to those who engage in nonsexual offending (n=33) and nonoffending controls (n=36) by using the HEXACO model and the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. Results revealed that the personality features of the CSOs are more similar to those of the nonoffending subgroup than to those of the nonsexual offending subgroup. Whereas the nonsexual offending subgroup showed personality traits that may affect their self-regulatory abilities, the CSOs showed traits that may impair their socio-affective functioning. However, the subgroup of CSOs that showed an enduring pattern of offending did display a constellation of personality traits typically found in antisocial individuals. These findings can inform treatment strategies for CSOs.

Practice impact statement

This article assists clinicians in designing tailored treatment strategies for individuals who perpetrate sexual offences against children (CSOs) by identifying how CSOs score on general personality traits. In contrast to nonsexual offenders who showed personality traits that may affect their self-regulatory abilities, CSOs showed personality traits that may affect their socio-affective functioning. This highlights the importance of addressing problems in the socio-affective domain such as intimacy deficits and emotional regulation difficulties in treatment programmes for CSOs. The present research also revealed personality differences within CSOs and showed how these differences should be taken into account when designing treatment strategies for CSOs.

KEYWORDS:

• child sexual abuse
• personality features
• HEXACO personality model
• reward sensitivity
• punishment sensitivity

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare not to have any financial interest in the results of this study or any other conflict of interest and agree to transfer copyrights if the manuscript is accepted.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Inti A. Brazil was supported by a VENI grant awarded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research: [Grant Number 451-15-014]; Tineke Dillien was supported by a Dehousse mandate of the University of Antwerp: [Project Number 42/FAO20000/17/6619].