Juan Antonio Becerra-García

A controlled study of the Big Five personality dimensions in sex offenders, non-sex offenders and non-offenders: relationship with offending behaviour and childhood abuse

Although personality traits such as those measured by the Five Factor Model are influenced by childhood abuse history, these associations have often been hindered by a lack of clinical controls. This study examined the independent influence of childhood abuse on the personality of sex offenders, non-sex offenders and control participants. We found Neuroticism higher in offenders generally, whereas non-sex offenders and control participants had higher Extraversion than sex offenders; Agreeableness differed between control and non-sexual offenders. Participants with abusive childhoods were higher in Neuroticism and Openness than individuals with non-abusive childhoods. This study improves on limitations of previous studies examining these questions. These findings suggest offence type is useful for differentiating offenders, and that Neuroticism and Openness traits are most influenced by a history of childhood abuse.

Childhood abuse history differentiates personality in sex offenders

This study examines the influence of abuse in childhood in the personality of Spanish adult sex offenders. Fifty sex offenders were evaluated using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and a brief interview for the experience of childhood abuse. Sex offenders who had experienced a abusive childhood had higher scores for neuroticism and openness, and lower scores for conscientiousness, whereas child molesters who had experienced abusive childhoods were higher in openness; sex offenders against adults who had abusive childhoods had higher neuroticism than sex offenders against adults without abusive childhoods. These findings indicate that childhood experience differentiates characteristic profiles of normal personality traits in sex offenders by their offence type. The type of childhood is a more theoretically meaningful construct than the type of sex offence committed by which to infer differences in normal personality traits among sexual offenders.

Neuropsychology of domestic violence: A comparative preliminary study of executive functioning

In neuropsychological studies of executive functioning in domestic violence offenders, the different investigations conducted have only studied differences within this group or in relation to control groups of non-offenders. To minimize the limitations in relation to comparison groups, the purpose of this study was to compare executive functioning in domestic violence offenders in relation to different groups of offenders (i.e. sexual, violent and non-violent) and a control group of non-offenders, with all groups matched on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Executive functioning was tested of all participants with the Trail Making Test (direct and derived scores). Compared with the control group, the domestic violence offenders and sex offenders exhibited the poorest performance on the Trail Making Test part B (time) and on the B-A derived index; whereas, the violent offenders group (i.e. convicted of assault, wounding, homicide etc.) showed a high number of errors in part B. These findings suggest that domestic violence offenders exhibit similar performance on the TMT as sex offenders, where both have poorer cognitive flexibility and executive control. Other violent offenders exhibited different patterns of difficulty on this test (e.g. more impulsivity responses). Executive functioning may be a central psychological process that could help explain the interrelations between domestic and sexual aggression, and could be a relevant construct for common treatment of domestic batterers and sex offenders.

Toward a neuropsychology of personality in sex offenders against children: an exploratory psychometric study.

Little is known about the relationship between neuropsychological functioning and normal personality in sex offenders. The aim of this study was to examine the relations between personality traits and executive functioning in child molesters. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory was used to assess personality, and the Trail Making Test (parts A and B) was used to assess executive functioning in a sample of child molesters (n = 33). We found the time required to complete Trail Making Test part A significantly predicted Extraversion scores, whereas the time to complete Trail Making Test part B significantly predicted Openness scores. Brief measures of executive functioning can thus predict the score in Extraversion and Openness in child molesters. These personality traits may be related to the functioning of brain areas implicated in having to complete the Trail Making Test.

Neurocognitive Functioning and Subtypes of Child Molesters: Poorer Working Memory Differentiates Incestuous from Non-Incestuous Offenders

Studies of neurocognitive functioning suggest that child molesters can be differentiated into offender types based on frontal neurocognitive (executive) functioning. The aim of this study was to examine performance on cognitive tests that assess processing speed, cognitive flexibility, executive control and working memory in two samples of child molesters (incestuous and non-incestuous) compared with an age- and education-matched control group of non-offenders. These groups were matched for clinical, sociodemographic and criminological characteristics. Our results suggest that cognitive measures of executive functioning (i.e., processing speed, cognitive flexibility and executive control) differentiate child molesters from non-offender participants, and that working memory performance in incestuous child molesters differentiates this group from non-incestuous offenders and control participants. These findings suggest specific components of impaired cognitive performance in incestuous child molesters relative to extra-familial offenders and non-offender control participants. Poorer working memory in incestuous child molesters may help differentiate this group from other child molester types.

Behavioral approach system activity and self‐reported somatic symptoms in fibromyalgia: an exploratory study

The first objective was to investigate the behavioural activity in the systems of Grays theory; these are the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioural Approach System (BAS), in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. The second aim was to assess in FM patients whether there is an association between BIS or BAS with self‐reported somatic symptoms. Twenty FM patients and 20 healthy controls completed questionnaire measures of BIS and BAS activity (Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire), self‐reported somatic symptoms (Somatic Symptoms Scale Revised), positive and negative affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) and health status (EuroQoL Visual Analogue Scale). The results showed that FM patients had lower Sensitivity to Reward (SR) scores than controls. The SR score correlated with different somatic symptoms groups. The partial correlation (controlling for other variables measured) showed that the SR score correlated specifically with musculoskeletal symptoms. Furthermore, in regression analysis, SR score significantly predicted musculoskeletal symptoms, after controlling for other variables measured in this study. Our findings suggest that FM patients show BAS hypoactivity. This BAS activity in FM is similar to patients with depression, where a lower BAS functioning has also been found. The BAS activity predicts the musculoskeletal self‐reported symptoms in FM better than other measures included in this study. Although this is a preliminary study, it suggests the importance of BAS activity in FM.

Childhood abuse and neurocognitive performance in adulthood: a preliminary study of executive functioning in offenders

Childhood abuse has an important negative influence on long-term executive functioning performance. Although this has been studied in non-offenders (controls), few investigations have examined offender samples. The aims of this study were: to study the influence of childhood abuse history on adulthood executive functioning in offenders, and to examine whether executive performance is affected differentially by different abusive events. It was found that in comparison with controls (n = 17) and with non-abused offenders (n = 22), the abused offenders (n = 18) have poorer performance on psychomotor-cognitive processing speed and cognitive flexibility. In abused offenders, it was also found that physical abuse events primarily and significantly affected adulthood performance in these cognitive abilities. In conclusion, this study helps us to know, preliminarily, the neurocognitive profile of abused offenders and how different abusive events suffered in childhood (e.g. physical and emotional abuse) differentially affect executive functioning of this sample.

A cross-cultural comparison of criminological characteristics and personality traits in sexual offenders against children: study in Spain and the United Kingdom

The aims of this study were to examine the existence of possible differences in criminological characteristics and normal personality traits for child molesters from two different cultures (Spain and the United Kingdom). We used the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) to assess personality, whereas criminological characteristics comprised prior convictions, the relation of the offender top the victim, the age range of victims and the victims gender. Comparisons revealed differences in personality but not for any criminological characteristics. These findings suggest that Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness differ between child molesters from different countries, whereas the nature of the offences is compatible. Finally, this study is one of the first to compare male child molesters between different countries.