# Psychological profile and mental illnesses among sex offenders **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychological-profile-and-mental-illnesses-among-sex-offenders/768695 "2016-10-16T13:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychological-profile-and-mental-illnesses-among-sex-offenders/768695/1 "2016-10-16T13:25:56Z")
What, if any, are the most likely psychological aspects or mental illnesses seen among sex offenders? In another thread I mentioned how only a small minority of men are rapists. This article says 6%. > **[Rape Victims Are Common. Rapists Are Not.](https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/05/campus-sexual-assault-statistics-so-many-victims-but-not-as-many-predators.html)** > > The White House spent this week rolling out its task force for combating sexual violence on campus, and part of the campaign has been to routinely cite... However I’m wondering if cluster B personality disorders are highly overrepresented among sex offenders. The stats I’m seeing are all over the place. This site says 66%. > **[Relationship of Personality Disorder and Criminal Behavior - Page 3](https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/754975_3)** > [@](#): > > Eher et al.[9•] did a similar study of 807 incarcerated sexual offenders admitted to Austria’s prisons between 2002 and 2009. They found that sexual offenders displayed high rates of mental illness, sexual disorders, personality disorders and substance abuse. However, there were differences between rapists and child molesters consistent with the finding of the study by Francia et al. [8•] Rapists had higher rates of personality disorder overall (76 versus 60%) and alcohol and substance abuse than child molesters, who had higher rates of sexual disorders (78 versus 24%). **Rapists had higher rates of cluster B personality disorders, especially antisocial and borderline, than child molesters (66 versus 40%),** whereas child molesters had higher rates of cluster C disorder (14 versus 6%). But other sites claim lower rates, or claim cluster C like avoidant personality disorder is overrepresented, while the article above claims it is barely 10% of sex offenders who are cluster C. Also that article claims BPD and ASPD are overrepresented, this claims NPD is overrepresented (it doesn’t give figures). [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14789940701491495](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14789940701491495) > [@](#): > > The sample consisted of 51 male inpatients at two maximum security forensic hospitals in Germany. The 19 sexual offenders were compared to the 32 non-sexual offenders. Personality disorder diagnoses and childhood maltreatment were assessed by experts; current psychopathology and interpersonal problems were measured using self-report questionnaires. **Narcissistic personality disorders were significantly more frequent in sexual offenders than in the comparison group.** In theory, it makes sense for cluster B types to be overrepresented among sex offenders. Narcissists and sociopaths have no empathy, and narcissists delude themselves that everyone wants to have sex with them. I’m not sure if it is mostly NPD, BPD and ASPD who make up sex offenders in the cluster B or if histrionics are also overrepresented. But what about men who do not have cluster B disorders, but who strongly subscribe to stereotypes of masculinity, you’d assume levels of sex offenses (at least rape) would be higher among them. What about men who feel defective and inadequate, this article implies they are overrepresented among serial rapists. [http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Four-types-of-serial-rapists-what-makes-them-3159973.php](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Four-types-of-serial-rapists-what-makes-them-3159973.php) I really don’t know. I guess if I had to guess, I’d assume a lot of sex offenders fall into one of the 3 categories [ul] [li]Cluster B personality types[/li][li]Men who subscribe to stereotypes of toxic masculinity[/li][li]Men who feel defective and weak, and use sexual abuse to feel powerful and strong.[/li][li]People who were sexually abused as kids, and now are compelled to repeat the trauma as adults[/li][/ul] I know women commit sex offenses too, I’m not sure if they fit the same profiles or not. Also I’m assuming it varies by sex offense. Child molesters are not date rapists who are not stranger rapists. The profiles may by different for each group. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychological-profile-and-mental-illnesses-among-sex-offenders/768695/2 "2016-10-16T15:39:45Z")
Under 18 “Conduct Disorder”. Over 18 that changes to “Antisocial Personality Disorder”. Basically they have no empathy for other human beings whatsoever. Are manipulative and just don’t care if they hurt anyone else. No remorse whatsoever for what they have done. And if they are caught, they are only upset they got caught, not concerned about their actions. Also totally self-centered. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychological-profile-and-mental-illnesses-among-sex-offenders/768695/3 "2016-10-16T15:52:39Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > Under 18 “Conduct Disorder”. > Over 18 that changes to “Antisocial Personality Disorder”. > > Basically they have no empathy for other human beings whatsoever. Are manipulative and just don’t care if they hurt anyone else. No remorse whatsoever for what they have done. And if they are caught, they are only upset they got caught, not concerned about their actions. > > Also totally self-centered. In theory it makes sense that sociopaths and those with ASPD would be overrepresented among sex offenders. However I believe it is more NPD types who are sex offenders, not ASPDs. But the data is contradictory. One says NPD, one says ASPD, one says BPD, one says it isn’t even cluster B types at all. I guess it depends because there are different kinds of sex offenses and different motivations. A date rapist may be higher in NPD, whereas a stranger rapist may be higher in avoidant personality disorder. Also a child molester may have totally different motivations than either one of them. I’m not sure. Here is a list of cluster B personality disorders for people who don’t know what I’m talking about. > **[Personality disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_B_personality_disorders)** > > Personality disorders (PD) are a class of mental disorders characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating from those accepted by the individual's culture. These patterns develop early, are inflexible, and are associated with significant distress or disability. The definitions vary by source and remain a matter of controversy. Official criteria for diagnosing personality disorders are listed in t Personal... ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychological-profile-and-mental-illnesses-among-sex-offenders/768695/4 "2016-10-16T16:11:03Z")
Any statistics are badly skewed by the fact that an identifiable sex “offender” is a person whose offense violated criminal law, which is not the same as violating moral or ethical principles. There is sexual behavior that is morally repugnant, but there are no criminal sanctions against it. There is also sexual behavior that is a violation of statutory law, but perfectly harmless to all parties concerned. Only the latter are quantified statistically as “sex offrenders”. As I mentioned recently in another thread, very little is known about the incidence of Antisocial Personality Disorder , because so many sociopaths are cunning and manipulative enough that they remain invisible to statisticians. Also, sociopathy does not necessarily have a high correlation with sexual behavior, it is more or a power-trip mind-game. Part of the “game” is knowing the law and skirting it.