Week Eight - 'Sexual Offending Runs in Families'

Question 1

Langstrom et al, 2015..

Answer 1

A 37-year nationwide study (Langstrom et al, 2015) – Sweden, 1973-2009, >20,000 cases

Having a father or brother convicted of a sexual offence increased the odds of being convicted in a particular man 4-5 fold compared with men without a sexually aggressive father or brother (2.5% compared with 0.5% in the general population)

Suggestion that genetic and non-shared environmental factors were more important than shared environmental influences

Genetic effects tended to be stronger for child molestation than rape

These findings might inform theories of sex offending and the development of targeted, selective prevention programmes for ‘at-risk’ families