Citation

Schimmenti A, Passanisi A, Caretti V. J. Child Sex. Abus. 2014; 23(7): 853-860.

Affiliation

a UKE - Kore University of Enna , Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10538712.2014.938210

PMID

25010088

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that psychopathy is a crucial construct for the understanding of criminal and violent behavior; however, research on psychopathic traits among child sexual abusers is still scant. In this study, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003) was used to assess psychopathy in a group of 87 Italian, male inmates who were convicted of violent crimes. Child sexual abusers (N = 23) scored higher on the PCL-R interpersonal-affective factor compared to participants who did not perpetrate child sexual abuse. Notably, child sexual abusers showed a very high average score on the PCL-R affective dimension; furthermore, they showed high scores on the two PCL-R items excluded from its two factors-four facets structure, i.e., the items denoting devaluation of intimate relationships. The results of this study may positively inform the development of treatment strategies for child sexual abusers.

Language: en