Claudia Massau1, Gilian Tenbergen2, Christian Kärgel1, Simone Weiß3, Hannah Gerwinn4, Alexander Pohl2, Till Amelung5, Sebastian Mohnke6, Jonas Kneer2, Matthias Wittfoth2, Inka Ristow7, Kolja Schiltz8, Klaus M Beier5, Jorge Ponseti4, Martin Walter7, Tillmann H C Kruger2, Henrik Walter6, Boris Schiffer1. 1. 1Division of Forensic Psychiatry,Department of Psychiatry,Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine,LWL-University Hospital Bochum,Germany. 2. 3Department of Clinical Psychiatry,Social Psychiatry, and Psychotherapy,Hannover Medical School,Hannover,Germany. 3. 2Department of Forensic Psychiatry,LVR-Clinics Essen,University Hospital Essen,University of Duisburg-Essen,Germany. 4. 5Institute of Sexual Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy,Kiel University,Medical School,Kiel,Germany. 5. 6Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin,Germany. 6. 7Charité,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy,Division for Mind and Brain Research,Campus Mitte,Universitätsmedizin Berlin,Germany. 7. 8Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory,Department for Behavioral Neurology,Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology,Magdeburg,Germany. 8. 9Department of Forensic Psychiatry,Psychiatric Hospital of the LMU,München,Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Pedophilia (P) is a psychiatric disease associated with sexual attraction toward children and often accompanied by child sexual offending (CSO). Consequently, it is important to address the understanding of executive dysfunctions that may increase the probability of CSO. Moreover, this research field has been lacking to disentangle executive deficits associated with pedophilia (as a deviant sexual preference) from those associated with CSO (as a deviant sexual behavior). METHODS: The German multi-sided research network NeMUP offers the opportunity to overcome these limitations. By applying the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery in four carefully matched groups of men: (1) pedophiles with (N=45) and (2) without (N=45) a history of sexual offending against children; (3) child molesters without pedophilia (N=19), and (4) non-offending controls (N=49), we were able to analyze executive functioning in pedophilia and CSO independently. RESULTS: Both CSO groups as compared to both non-CSO groups exhibited worsened response inhibition ability. However, only non-pedophilic offenders showed additionally disabled strategy use ability. Regarding set-shifting abilities, the P+CSO group showed the best performance. We also found that performances were affected by age: only in pedophiles, response inhibition worsened with age, while age-related deficits in set-shifting abilities were restricted to non-pedophilic participants. The latter also differentiated between both sexual preference groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are the first to demonstrate that executive dysfunctions are related to offense status rather than pedophilic preference. Furthermore, there was evidence for differentiating age and performance correlations between pedophiles and non-pedophiles, which warrants further investigation. (JINS, 2017, 23, 460-470).
OBJECTIVES:Pedophilia (P) is a psychiatric disease associated with sexual attraction toward children and often accompanied by child sexual offending (CSO). Consequently, it is important to address the understanding of executive dysfunctions that may increase the probability of CSO. Moreover, this research field has been lacking to disentangle executive deficits associated with pedophilia (as a deviant sexual preference) from those associated with CSO (as a deviant sexual behavior). METHODS: The German multi-sided research network NeMUP offers the opportunity to overcome these limitations. By applying the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery in four carefully matched groups of men: (1) pedophiles with (N=45) and (2) without (N=45) a history of sexual offending against children; (3) child molesters without pedophilia (N=19), and (4) non-offending controls (N=49), we were able to analyze executive functioning in pedophilia and CSO independently. RESULTS: Both CSO groups as compared to both non-CSO groups exhibited worsened response inhibition ability. However, only non-pedophilic offenders showed additionally disabled strategy use ability. Regarding set-shifting abilities, the P+CSO group showed the best performance. We also found that performances were affected by age: only in pedophiles, response inhibition worsened with age, while age-related deficits in set-shifting abilities were restricted to non-pedophilic participants. The latter also differentiated between both sexual preference groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are the first to demonstrate that executive dysfunctions are related to offense status rather than pedophilic preference. Furthermore, there was evidence for differentiating age and performance correlations between pedophiles and non-pedophiles, which warrants further investigation. (JINS, 2017, 23, 460-470).
Entities:
Keywords:
CANTAB; Child molesting behavior; Child sexual offending; Executive function; Pedophilia; Sexual preference
Authors: Jorge Ponseti; Daniel Bruhn; Julia Nolting; Hannah Gerwinn; Alexander Pohl; Aglaja Stirn; Oliver Granert; Helmut Laufs; Günther Deuschl; Stephan Wolff; Olav Jansen; Hartwig Siebner; Peer Briken; Sebastian Mohnke; Till Amelung; Jonas Kneer; Boris Schiffer; Henrik Walter; Tillmann H C Kruger Journal: Front Hum Neurosci Date: 2018-01-23 Impact factor: 3.169
Authors: Inka Ristow; Jens Foell; Christian Kärgel; Viola Borchardt; Shijia Li; Dominik Denzel; Joachim Witzel; Krasimira Drumkova; Klaus Beier; Tillmann H C Kruger; Jorge Ponseti; Boris Schiffer; Kolja Schiltz; Henrik Walter; Martin Walter Journal: Neuroimage Clin Date: 2019-05-22 Impact factor: 4.881
Authors: Tillmann H C Kruger; Christopher Sinke; Jonas Kneer; Gilian Tenbergen; Abdul Qayyum Khan; Alexandra Burkert; Linda Müller-Engling; Harald Engler; Hannah Gerwinn; Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark; Alexander Pohl; Simone Weiß; Till Amelung; Sebastian Mohnke; Claudia Massau; Christian Kärgel; Martin Walter; Kolja Schiltz; Klaus M Beier; Jorge Ponseti; Boris Schiffer; Henrik Walter; Kirsten Jahn; Helge Frieling Journal: Transl Psychiatry Date: 2019-01-18 Impact factor: 6.222