{"title":"Artificial neural network model for predicting child sexual offending: role of cognitive distortions, sexual coping, and attitudes","authors":"Ricardo Ventura Baúto, Jorge Cardoso, Isabel Leal","doi":"10.1080/24732850.2023.2249518","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis research aims to present additional knowledge about individuals with a history of sexual offenses against children in Portugal. Although the international literature mentions the presence of cognitive distortions as a common element for child sexual offending, it is known that another cognitive pathway developed since childhood and adolescence will have a significant weight in the definition of disruptive sexual behaviors. In this article, we focused on sexual attitudes and sex as a strategy for sexual coping and assayed to appreciate the relevance of these variables as predictors of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). This research mainly aims to analyze a hierarchical and predictive model of these variables and cognitive distortion in the CSA. With resources to Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), we conclude that these variables, when associated, have a predictive accuracy of 82.3% in a sample that included individuals with a history of sexual offenses against children (N = 59) and the general community (N = 82). New future approaches can benefit from integrating coping strategies and sexual attitudes into CSA, adapted to the Portuguese context.KEYWORDS: Sexual offenseschild sexual abuseartificial neural networkscognitive distortions Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).","PeriodicalId":15806,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24732850.2023.2249518","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis research aims to present additional knowledge about individuals with a history of sexual offenses against children in Portugal. Although the international literature mentions the presence of cognitive distortions as a common element for child sexual offending, it is known that another cognitive pathway developed since childhood and adolescence will have a significant weight in the definition of disruptive sexual behaviors. In this article, we focused on sexual attitudes and sex as a strategy for sexual coping and assayed to appreciate the relevance of these variables as predictors of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). This research mainly aims to analyze a hierarchical and predictive model of these variables and cognitive distortion in the CSA. With resources to Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), we conclude that these variables, when associated, have a predictive accuracy of 82.3% in a sample that included individuals with a history of sexual offenses against children (N = 59) and the general community (N = 82). New future approaches can benefit from integrating coping strategies and sexual attitudes into CSA, adapted to the Portuguese context.KEYWORDS: Sexual offenseschild sexual abuseartificial neural networkscognitive distortions Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).