title: Neuroticism as a risk factor for child abuse in victims of childhood sexual abuse.
abstract: Findings on the relationship of experienced sexual abuse and abuse behavior in adulthood are ambiguous. However, associations between experienced abuse and neuroticism as well as between neuroticism and active child abuse have been reported repeatedly. In our study, we compared pedosexual child abusers with consumers of internet child pornography and control subjects with adult-sexual preference with regard to traumatic childhood experience (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ), personality traits (NEO - Personality Inventory - Revised, NEO-PI-R), and sexual abnormalities (Multiphasic Sex Inventory, MSI). In an initial analysis, sexual abuse experienced in childhood was not directly linked to sexual abuse behavior in adulthood. However, this relationship was mediated by neuroticism. In a second step, the CTQ scales were conflated and, using a structural equation model, direct links between the overall level of abuse experienced in childhood (generally high CTQ levels) and sexual abuse behavior in adulthood revealed again the mediation by neurotic personality. We conclude that the overall level of abuse experienced in childhood in general, and less sexual abuse experience in particular, modulates the tendency for child sexual abuse behavior in adulthood. Data suggest that, depending on the resilience of an individual, abuse experience during childhood increases the likelihood of developing neurotic personality traits in later life, which are in turn considered to increase the risk of child sexual abuse in child sex offenders.
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boillat
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stutz
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marlon O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Pflueger
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graf
authors.affiliation: University Basel, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: timm.rosburg@upkbs.ch.
authors.forename: Timm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosburg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D004882:Erotica; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Child sexual assault; Neuroticism; Pedosexual preference; Sexual abuse experiences; Traumatic childhood experiences