The Relationship Between Offense-Supportive Cognitions and Childhood Trauma in Offending and Non-Offending Men with (Exclusive) Pedo-, Hebe-, and Teleiophilia Who Seek Voluntary Treatment

Offense-supportive cognitions are a major dynamic risk factor for child sexual abuse (CSA) (re)offending. Theories about offense-supportive cognitions claim that they are affected by childhood abuse experiences. The present study investigated whether offense-supportive cognitions are associated with adverse childhood experiences in a male sample (N = 386) entering preventive treatment to avoid (re)offending. The sample consisted of men with (exclusive) pedo-, hebe-, and teleiophilia who did or did not commit CSA or offenses related to CSA material (CSAM). Offense-supportive cognitions were assessed by the Bumby Molest Scale and childhood adversity by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. An analysis using Bayesian ordinal logit models indicated an overall weak positive relationship between offense-supportive cognitions and sexual and other forms of childhood trauma in patients with pedo-hebephilia (sexual interest in pre- and early-pubescent body schema). In patients with exclusive teleiophilia (sexual interest in post-pubescent body schema only), only sexual abuse was predictive of offense-supportive cognitions. The mostly weak effects found in the present study do not correspond with the theoretical assumptions. We discuss the methodological and conceptual issues that might lead to underestimating the effects and measures to address these issues.