Problems of Forensic Sciences 2010 Vol. 81 (LXXXI) 57-73
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE “ABUSED ABUSER” HYPOTHESIS IN EXPLAINING THE AETIOLOGY OF PAEDOPHILIA
Maria BEISERT
Institute of Psychology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Streszczenie
The issue of paedophilia and child sexual abuse is connected with the crime defined in article 200 and in related articles of the Polish Penal Code. It may cause severe harm to the physical and psychical health of a victim. One of the well-known consequences is the cycle of abuse: a person who has been a victim can, under certain sets of circumstances, become an offender. In this paper the abused abuser hypothesis is discussed. It has been noted in the sexological literature that a lot of research results verify this hypothesis. However, there are some results, from reliable research projects, that do not support it. The author of this paper offers her own interpretation of the abused abuser hypothesis and explains its usefulness in the process of understanding the phenomenon of paedophilia.
Paedophilia-aetiology; Child sexual abuse; “Abused abuser”.