Psychopathy and Stress in Child and Adolescent’s Sexual Offender

Abstract

The aim of this article was to investigate whether child and adolescent’s sexual offender (SO), with and without psychopathy, differ in relation to their ability to manage stress and distress. Thirty prisoners serving time in jail for sexual crimes against children and adolescents participated in the study, which was divided into two groups: G1 SO considered without psychopathy (N = 20; PCL-R <30); and G2 SO with psychopathy (N = 10; PCL-R ≥ 30). The instruments used were: a protocol for collecting information on criminal proceedings; the Rorschach test according to the Performance Assessment System (R-PAS), considering the variables of the stress and distress domain, and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and linear regression analysis. The results showed that 16% of psychopathy in SO was explained by a lower level of stress and distress.