A study of adverse childhood experiences and psychopathology of imprisoned sexual offenders at a central prison, Hyderabad, Telangana

Abstract Introduction: Sexual offense has been defined as sexual contact with another person (including touching of the sexual organs of another) or touching of another person with one’s sexual organs without that person’s consent. Adverse childhood experiences could lead to health problems, behavioral problems, and psychosocial problems like crimes. Aims: The aim is to study adverse childhood experiences and psychopathology of imprisoned sexual offenders. Materials and Methods: A sample of 48 sexual offenders from a central prison and after taking informed consent, a semi-structured intake pro forma was used, followed by that adverse childhood experiences–international questionnaire, Mini-international neuropsychiatric interview-7.0.2 were applied. Results: It was found that the majority of the offenders had experienced adversities in their childhood, the most common being community violence and physical abuse, emotional neglect. Half of the participants had antisocial personality disorder. A statistically significant relationship was found between adverse childhood experiences score and number of offenses committed ( P = 0.002). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the presence of adverse childhood experiences could affect physical, mental health in adulthood, and increase crimes.