The Maltreatment–Aggression Link among Prosecuted Males: What about Psychopathy?

Laura Woehrle, Petra Retz-Junginger, Wolfgang Retz and Steffen Barra
Additional contact information
Laura Woehrle: Institute for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrberger Str., 100, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Petra Retz-Junginger: Institute for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrberger Str., 100, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Wolfgang Retz: Institute for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrberger Str., 100, 66421 Homburg, Germany
Steffen Barra: Institute for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Kirrberger Str., 100, 66421 Homburg, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: violence; sexual offending; adverse childhood experiences; personality; trauma; offender subtypes; structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9584/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9584/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9584-:d:880035

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().