1 25 DYNAMIC RISK FACTORS understanding of the development and nature of this risk, may, ultimately, improve effectiveness of treatments, risk management plans, and prevention initiatives aimed to assist men with a history of sexual offenses to desist (Gannon et al., 2019; Ward & Beech, 2015). This introductory chapter identifies current theoretical and research gaps regarding risk-relevant psychological and behavioral characteristics and introduces the network approach of psychopathology as a possible perspective to address them. The chapter will conclude with the research objectives of this dissertation. 1.2 TWO PERSPECTIVES ON RISK-RELEVANT PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS To help a man with a history of sexual offenses desist future ones, forensic treatment and risk assessment ideally explain the source(s) of his risk, by examining and addressing his personal risk-relevant characteristics (Mann et al., 2010). These characteristics may include biological factors (e.g., genetics, brain structures, hormone levels), (early) life experiences (e.g., childhood sexual abuse or neglect), sociocultural factors (e.g., being part of a hostile masculine (sub)culture or sexualized environment, legal variables), situational factors (e.g., access to potential victims, absence of a guardian, changes in employment), and psychological and behavioral factors (such as human agency, motivation for treatment, intelligence, extraversion, level of social emotional development). Given the focus of this dissertation on dynamic risk factors, two perspectives on psychological and behavioral characteristics contributing to the risk of sexual reoffending will be discussed in the following sections. 1.2.1 STATISTICAL PERSPECTIVE In exploring the causal effects of behavioral and psychological characteristics on reoffending, Andrews and Bonta (e.g., Andrews et al., 1990; Bonta & Andrews, 2017) introduced a statistical perspective that distinguishes between three types of covariates associated with criminal behavior, named: correlate, (dynamic) predictor, and causal (see figure 1.1). Correlates, which can be determined by cross-sectional studies on criminal past, are potential risk factors describing the size of the relationship between individual differences and criminal history. Potential, because there is no certainty that variation in the independent variable came before variation in the dependent variable. Therefore, correlates contain no causal information. Static risk factors are examples of correlates. Static risk factors, such as demographic information (e.g., age, ever lived in a legal intimate relationship), criminal history (e.g., amount and type of offenses), and victim information (e.g., sex, being relative of victims), are not amendable by deliberate treatment interventions (Bonta, 1996; Mann, Hanson & Thornton, 2010). Predictors are
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