Does childhood trauma predict social cognition in male sexual offenders?

Background and Aims This cross‐sectional study explored childhood trauma as a predictor of two components of social cognition: emotion recognition and mentalizing. Materials and Methods Forty‐three men serving a UK custodial sentence for a sexual offence participated. Participants completed three social cognition measures: Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, the Geneva Emotional Recognition Test and Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. A self‐report childhood trauma measure—the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire—was completed. Results Multiple regression analyses showed that childhood trauma was a significant predictor of both hyper‐ and hypo‐mentalizing, indicating both an overinterpretation of others' mental states and limited perspective‐taking abilities, respectively. For hyper‐mentalizing, age was a significant covariate. Childhood trauma did not significantly predict emotion recognition. Discussion Findings are broadly consistent with existing literature, indicating childhood trauma may be associated with poorer mentalizing in this population. Conclusion Results suggest that incorporating mentalizing skills into rehabilitative therapies may be beneficial.