title: Relations Between Self-Reported Adverse Events in Childhood and Hypersexuality in Adult Male Sexual Offenders.
abstract: Hypersexuality, or extreme normophilic sexual urges and behaviors, is a controversial construct that was recently considered as a candidate disorder for the DSM-5 and was rejected. It was also rejected for inclusion in Section III (Conditions for Further Study). Nonetheless, it has been found to be an important predictor of recidivism among sex offenders, and it continues to be discussed widely in the literature. In the present study, we investigated the developmental roots of this construct in a sample of 529 adult male sexual offenders, who were administered the Multidimensional Assessment of Sex and Aggression. Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse experiences were estimated using several scales of early development. Psychological abuse in childhood and adolescence, especially by a father, was found to be the most prominent predictor of subsequent hypersexual thoughts and behaviors. The accumulation of abuse types, however, was also associated with a monotonic increase in the latent trait of hypersexuality. The consequences of these results for conceptualizations of the construct are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Integrated Forensic Program, Institute of Mental Health Research, Brockville Mental Health Centre, Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, 1804 Highway 2 East, Brockville, ON, K6V 5W7, Canada. drew.kingston@theroyal.ca.
authors.forename: Drew A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kingston
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Franklyn J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Raymond A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D057237:Criminals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010262:Paraphilic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Emotion regulation; Hypersexuality; Sex offender; Sexual addiction