1 33 DYNAMIC RISK FACTORS 1.4 TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE OF RISK OF SEXUAL REOFFENDING This dissertation aims to further the understanding of the processes by which dynamic risk factors in adult men with a history of sexual offenses contribute to the risk of sexual reoffending. Inspired by the network approach to psychopathology (Borsboom, 2017; Borsboom et al., 2019; Borsboom et al., 2021; Robinaugh et al., 2020), it will elaborate on the proposition that the concept of a network of causal interacting dynamic risk factors is key to the comprehension of this phenomenon. From a network perspective of psychopathology, both the development of and sustained changes in mental disorders can be understood from a self-sustaining network of causally interrelated symptoms (e.g., Borsboom et al., 2021; Robinaugh et al., 2020; Wichers et al., 2021). According to this approach, symptoms of mental disorder are activated by factors external to the person (e.g., adverse life events, sociocultural influences, situational contexts) or arise through processes inside the person (e.g., biological, or psychological processes) (Borsboom, 2019). Everyone may experience some symptoms of a mental disorder occasionally, for instance, insomnia, fatigue, concentration problems, or sadness. According to the network perspective of psychopathology, for example a Major Depressive Disorder occurs when symptoms form a stable state of continuous causal interaction (e.g., insomnia causing fatigue resulting in concentration problems and sadness which in turn aggravates the insomnia and concentration problems – see Figure 1.3) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Fried et al., 2017). Within this approach, this stable state of continuous, mutually activating symptoms is referred to as a self-sustaining network or equilibrium (Borsboom, 2017). Treatment of psychopathology leads to a healthier state of the self-sustaining network, which holds ideally a dissolution of the psychopathology, characterized by fewer or less strongly connected symptoms. The shift to a new, in this case healthier, state or equilibrium of the self-sustaining network is referred to as a critical transition (see figure 1.4) (Kossakowski, 2020). A network approach application to the risk of sexual reoffending may provide a theoretical account by which processes dynamic risk factors contribute to the development of and sustained changes in risk. According to this approach, a stable state of risk of sexual reoffending will be developed when interrelationships between dynamic risk factors are suf ciently strong (i.e., form a self-sustaining network). In turn, a shift to a new stable state of risk occurs when activity in the network exceeds a critical point resulting in a new self-sustaining network of dynamic risk factors.
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