Institute for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrberger Str., 100, 66421 Homburg, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 4;19(15):9584. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159584.
Criminal offenders constitute a high-risk sample regarding experiences of childhood maltreatment and engagement in severe aggression. Moreover, psychopathic traits are more common in samples of offenders than non-offenders. Although research has underlined the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult aggression, the influence of psychopathy on this link is still unclear. We examined the dynamics of maltreatment, aggression, and psychopathy in a mixed sample of 239 male violent, sexual, and other offenders using latent factor structural equation modeling. We found a consistent positive association of maltreatment with aggression. Psychopathy did not mediate this relation. Maltreatment was not associated with psychopathy, although psychopathy had a positive effect on aggressive behavior. These dynamics appeared similar for violent, sexual, and other offenders. However, latent variables were constructed somewhat differently depending on the offender status. For instance, sexual abuse appeared to be of specific importance in sexual offenders. Violent offenders showed high rates of psychopathy compared to sexual and other offenders. The current findings may inspire future research to focus more closely on the different subtypes of psychopathy when examining its role in the prediction of aggression based on childhood maltreatment. Moreover, childhood maltreatment must not be neglected in treatment and prevention approaches aimed at reducing the risk of aggressive behavior.
犯罪者构成了一个高风险的样本，他们经历过童年虐待，并从事严重的攻击行为。此外，精神病态特征在罪犯样本中比非罪犯样本更为常见。尽管研究强调了童年虐待与成人攻击之间的关系，但精神病态对这一联系的影响仍不清楚。我们使用潜在因素结构方程模型，对 239 名男性暴力、性和其他罪犯的混合样本进行了虐待、攻击和精神病态的动态研究。我们发现，虐待与攻击之间存在一致的正相关关系。精神病态并不能解释这种关系。虐待与精神病态无关，尽管精神病态对攻击行为有积极影响。这些动态在暴力、性和其他罪犯中似乎相似。然而，根据罪犯的身份，潜在变量的构建略有不同。例如，性虐待在性罪犯中似乎具有特殊的重要性。与性罪犯和其他罪犯相比，暴力罪犯表现出较高的精神病态水平。目前的研究结果可能会激发未来的研究，在研究基于童年虐待的攻击行为预测中，更密切地关注精神病态的不同亚型及其作用。此外，在以减少攻击行为风险为目标的治疗和预防措施中，不能忽视童年虐待。
