Men's Experience of Abuse During Child- and Adulthood and Identification of Self as Perpetrator: A Cross-Sectional Study in Psychiatric Care.

The aim of this study was to describe the extent to which men in psychiatric care have experienced emotional, physical, and sexual abuse during the life course and the association between this experience and being a perpetrator oneself. The aim was also to identify who exposed them to abuse and whether there was an association between the category of abuser and being a perpetrator oneself. A cross-sectional study was performed using the self-administered NorVold Abuse Questionnaire for men. The study included 210 men and showed that there was a significant association between physical abuse both as a child and as an adult and being a perpetrator oneself. There was, furthermore, a significant correlation between having been subjected to physical and emotional family member abuse and being oneself a perpetrator of abuse. This study concludes that experiences of abuse among men in a Swedish psychiatric context can be associated with perpetration of abuse.