Forensic inpatient male sexual offenders: The impact of personality disorder and childhood sexual abuse

Given the great epidemiological, social, and psychological importance of sexual offences, and their deleterious consequences for victims, it seems vital to focus on potential risk factors for becoming a sexual offender. Our study aims to contribute to a better understanding of specific risk factors for sexual offenders by including a number of potentially important variables: biographical, clinical, and forensic. The sample consisted of 51 male inpatients at two maximum security forensic hospitals in Germany. The 19 sexual offenders were compared to the 32 non-sexual offenders. Personality disorder diagnoses and childhood maltreatment were assessed by experts; current psychopathology and interpersonal problems were measured using self-report questionnaires. Narcissistic personality disorders were significantly more frequent in sexual offenders than in the comparison group. Moreover, sexual offenders had been sexually abused as children significantly more often than the non-sexual offenders. Our findings indicate that sexual victimization in childhood might be an important risk factor for sexual offending in later life. Therapeutic interventions for offenders focusing on their childhood sexual abuse might improve their psychosocial well-being and functioning, and their criminal prognosis.