THE SEXUAL ABUSER, CHARACTERISTICS AND RISK FACTORS – LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Objective. The objective of this study was to examine some dimensions of personality encountered among people with difficulties in controlling sexual impulses, depending on the gender of the aggressor, as well as to highlight the main predictors regarding the probability of committing sexual abuse. Material and methods. 48 studies were analyzed, of which 13 qualitative and 35 quantitative. The qualitative researches were mainly based on observation or semi-structured interview, and the quantitative ones were based on descriptive statistics, correlational tests. The size of the samples ranged from 51 to 2950 participants. The search covered the period from 1997 to 2020. Results. Men and women who have committed sexual offences have both common characteristics such as mental disorders, inadequate sexual style, lack of remorseful or empathetic feelings towards the victim, tendency towards criminal behavior, and differences. These were represented by the way they approach the victim, while men tend more towards the use of manipulation, women choose dissimulation. The risk factors in the occurrence of this crime were: the close relationship between the aggressor and the victim, the age specific to the aggressor’s youth stage, spatio-temporal factors correlated with the time of year and the time of day, the existence of a preferential pattern and dysfunctions of the social environment. Conclusions. A customized intervention is required, depending on the specificity of the clinical frame, on the type of socioeconomic and educational environment of origin and on the experiential history of each person in this criminal category. In the case of men, the approach must keep in mind the relational-value side, and in the case of women the affective sphere, taking into account the involvement of a wide range of emotions.

Keywords

• sexual assault
• pedophilia
• personality
• rape
• risk