ABSTRACT
Personality traits are considered as an important aspect in the assessment of child sex offenders (CSOs). The current study sought to elucidate the association between neuroticism, psychopathy, and abusive behavior in low risk CSOs. 43 pedophilic CSOs and 21 controls (CTLs) completed the NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R), Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), and Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI). Our results revealed small differences in PCL scores between CSOs and CTLs, with comparatively low levels of psychopathy in both groups. Higher levels of neuroticism were associated with higher PCL scores, in both CSOs and CTLs. However, higher PCL scores in CSOs did not correlate with higher MSI total scores on the subscale child molest. These findings suggest an ambiguous role of psychopathy in CSOs: higher levels of psychopathy co-occur with higher levels of neuroticism, but psychopathy does apparently not modulate abusive behavior, at least not in low risk offenders, as currently investigated.
Acknowledgments
The authors greatly appreciated the assistance of Ms. Maja Kohler in language editing.
Disclosure of Interest
All authors declare that have no conflicts of interest to report.
Ethical Standards and Informed Consent
The study was approved by the local ethics committee (‘Ethikkommission beider Basel’ EK: 256/12). All procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000, and written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.
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Notes on contributors
Cedric B. Stoll
Cedric B. Stoll, candidate of medicine at the University Basel.
Coralie Boillat
Coralie Boillat, Ph.D., is clinical psychologist and researcher of the Forensic Department at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel.
Marlon O. Pflueger
Marlon O. Pflueger, Ph.D., is senior neuropsychologist of the Forensic Department at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel.
Marc Graf
Marc Graf, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of Forensic Psychiatry and Director of the Forensic Department at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel.
Timm Rosburg
Timm Rosburg, Ph.D., is the head of research of the Forensic Department at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel.