Empathy in pedophilia and sexual offending against children: A multifaceted approach.

Abstract

Empathy is regarded as dynamic risk factor of child sexual offending. However, empathy research in the context of child sexual abuse suffers from various problems. First, prior studies failed to differentiate between pedophilic and nonpedophilic sexual offenders. Second, there is no distinction made between cognitive and affective empathy. Third, cognitive and affective empathy toward emotional states of specific age groups (children and adults) has not been adequately addressed. The current study tackles these shortcomings investigating offending and nonoffending pedophiles and multiple aspects of empathy using self-reports and objective behavioral measures. Participants included 85 pedophilic men who committed hands-on child sexual offenses (P+CSO), 72 pedophilic men who never committed hands-on child sexual offenses (P−CSO), and 128 nonoffending teleiophilic male controls (TC). Several affective and cognitive aspects of empathy were assessed using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Whereas in self-reports (IRI) P+CSO scored lower than TC (P−CSO intermediate) in cognitive perspective-taking abilities, a performance-based measure (MET) revealed evidence for a better differentiation of emotional states in P−CSO as compared with P+CSO (TC intermediate). In addition, P+CSO and P−CSO showed significantly higher affective resonance while observing children (MET), which was paralleled by higher self-reported levels of personal distress in social situations (IRI). The results indicate evidence for higher general affective empathic resonance to children in pedophilic men but superior cognitive empathy abilities in nonoffending pedophiles only, which may act as a protective factor in the prevention of sexual offending. Together, these findings underline the importance of accounting for multiple facets of empathy when targeting pedophilia and child sexual offending.

Neural processing associated with cognitive empathy in pedophilia and child sexual offending

“…Contrary to what might be expected, given prior behavioral results on CE (i.e. superior CE performance in P − CSO compared to P + CSO; Schuler et al. , 2019 , 2021 ), it is the group of P − CSO that exhibited reduced recruitment of the Pcu during cognitively inferring affective states.…”

“…Here, we have investigated neural correlates of CE specifically. This is of considerable interest as we have found evidence for superior CE performance in P − CSO compared to P + CSO ( Schuler et al. , 2019 , 2021 ).…”

“…In addition, this study examined the cognitive interference of emotional states of a cartoon’s protagonist based on the understanding of presented social scenes. Prior studies on behavioral CE performance required participants to infer affective states of presented facial expressions ( Schuler et al. , 2019 , 2021 ).…”

Risk Factors for Sexual Offending in Self-Referred Men With Pedophilic Disorder: A Swedish Case-Control Study

“…Thus, PD participants' self-rated mentalizing impairments might capture more complex reallife social situations than the RMET. Recently, Schuler et al (2019) compared men with pedophilic attraction with (n = 85) and without (n = 72) prior contact child sexual offenses to male non-offending controls (n = 128) on several aspects of empathy. The only significant difference between PD and control participants was that those with PD and prior child sexual contact self-reported lower mentalizing ability (d = 0.38, p < 0.05), and a trend toward impaired emotion attribution (d = 0.31, p = 0.05) (Schuler et al, 2019).…”

“…Recently, Schuler et al (2019) compared men with pedophilic attraction with (n = 85) and without (n = 72) prior contact child sexual offenses to male non-offending controls (n = 128) on several aspects of empathy. The only significant difference between PD and control participants was that those with PD and prior child sexual contact self-reported lower mentalizing ability (d = 0.38, p < 0.05), and a trend toward impaired emotion attribution (d = 0.31, p = 0.05) (Schuler et al, 2019). This is partly consistent with the poorer self-rated mentalizing ability and trend toward poorer emotion attribution found among our non-forensic but helpseeking PD men.…”