7 147 DISCUSSION 7.1 INTRODUCTION Understanding how dynamic risk factors in adult men with a history of sexual offenses contribute to the development of risk of sexual reoffending, will, ultimately, lead to a safer society (Gannon et al., 2019; Ward & Beech, 2015). Traditional perspectives on these psychological and behavioral characteristics assert their causal relationship with sexual reoffending; however, they fail to explain the processes by which dynamic risk factors give rise to the risk of sexual reoffending and contribute to sustained change in this risk (Prentky et al., 2015, Thornton, 2016). Inspired by the network approach to psychopathology (Borsboom, 2017; Borsboom et al., 2019; Borsboom et al., 2021; Robinaugh et al., 2020), this dissertation introduced a network-based model of risk of sexual reoffending (NBM-RSR; Chapter 6). According to this model, the risk of sexual reoffending can be understood from a self-sustaining network of causally interrelated dynamic risk factors. To develop the NBM-RSR, the causal relationship between dynamic risk factors and sexual reoffending was empirically examined through a metaanalysis (Chapter 2), and statistical network analyses were conducted to investigate the interrelationships among dynamic risk factors (Chapter 3 and 4). Subsequently, a series of case studies was conducted to examine the extent to which a personalized network approach to risk of sexual reoffending can inform forensic case formulations in clinical practice (Chapter 5). This chapter reviews the key findings of these studies, discusses the NBM-RSR, and outlines their scientific and clinical relevance as well as their limitations. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research. 7.2 KEY FINDINGS 7.2.1 PREDICTIVE PROPERTIES OF (CHANGE IN) DYNAMIC RISK FACTORS Variables included in the NBM-RSR should meet the core assumption of dynamic risk factors, that they are amendable and that their change affects the risk of sexual reoffending. The meta-analysis presented in Chapter 2, based on 52 studies (N = 13,446), investigated the extent to which (changes in) currently known dynamic risk factors are predictive of future (sexual) reoffending. Results of this analysis indicate that change scores in dynamic risk, as assessed using instruments developed for adult men with a history of sexual offenses, indeed are predictive of the risk of sexual reoffending. In addition, these instruments have small-to-moderate predictive properties for sexual, violent (including sexual), and any reoffending. 7.2.2 INTERRELATIONSHIP OF DYNAMIC RISK FACTORS Following this meta-analysis, the interrelationships among dynamic risk factors included
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