Abstract
Child sexual abuse is a public health issue that has been associated with a variety of negative health outcomes. Child sexual abusers constitute a heterogeneous population of individuals. This review lays out an overview of the current understanding of typologies and psychological profiles of child sexual abusers. Typologies of child sexual abusers in general and online child sexual abusers are reviewed to summarise the existing knowledge. Psychological traits including personality traits, cognitive distortion, empathy, and impulsivity are examined to provide a wider perspective of the psycho-criminogenic factors of child sexual abuse. Although past research on child sexual abusers has provided insights into the organisation and classification of different types of child sexual abusers, the classification of these typologies has drawn widespread criticisms. In this review, we discuss the challenges and limitations pertaining to the existing typologies and studies related to the psychological profile of child sexual abusers.
Highlights
Child sexual abuse is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of sexual activities that take place between a child and an older person, in which the child does not fully comprehend and is unable to give consent [1]
One-third of the child sexual abuse was committed by non-family members [4,16]
This review aims to explore and summarise the existing typologies and psychological profiles of child sexual abusers
Summary
Child sexual abuse is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of sexual activities that take place between a child and an older person, in which the child does not fully comprehend and is unable to give consent [1]. Research data derived from 2000 to 2013 indicated that 7 to 12 per cent of children are sexually abused in the United States [6]. Most of the cases involving child sexual abuse are via non-penetrative sexual touch such as fondling and kissing [4,8]. One-third of the child sexual abuse was committed by non-family members [4,16]. This estimated incidence derived from data recorded by research and might not be representative of the actual population. Research indicated different factors such as the locations (urban versus rural), sample size, and methods of collecting data that might influence the estimates of child sexual abuse [10,19,20]
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