Dr Dustin O'Shannessy1, Dr Danielle Shumack1, Ms Emily Maple1, Ms Charlie-Jean Seeto1, Mr Joshua Teoh1, Mrs Shannon Conley1, A/Prof Jesse Cale1, Prof Benoit Leclerc1
1Griffith Youth Forensic Service, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Biography:
Dr. Dustin (Dusty) O'Shannessy is a researcher at the Griffith Youth Forensic Service with publications in the areas of adolescent development, psychopathology, and harmful sexual behaviour.
Traumatic experiences in childhood can compromise core self-regulatory abilities, impair emotional processing, distort cognitions, and disrupt interpersonal relationships, contributing to a range of antisocial behaviours. This study investigated whether trauma symptomatology is associated with clinical presentations in youth with harmful sexual behaviours (HSBs). A retrospective case file review was conducted for 166 Australian adolescents (M age at referral = 15.89, SD = 1.20) referred to a specialist forensic assessment and treatment service following a sexual offence. Data included scores on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC; Briere, 1996), psychiatric diagnoses, and substance use information. Trauma symptom scale scores, particularly anger and depression, were positively associated with both substance use and psychiatric comorbidity. Youth with clinical trauma scores had significantly higher psychiatric comorbidity, with a median of 5 disorders (mean rank = 97.96) compared to 3 (mean rank = 71.29) in youth with non-clinical scores (Mann-Whitney U = 2321, p < .001). One-way MANOVAs suggested that youth with mood, trauma-related, disruptive, substance-related, and neurodevelopmental disorders had significantly different trauma profiles. A linear regression model, F(9, 156) = 6.25, adjusted R² = .22, p < .001, suggested that greater substance use was significantly associated with trauma-related anger. A follow-up logistic regression predicting the presence of a substance-related disorder with TSCC scale scores and ethnicity correctly classified 74.7% of cases, χ²(9, N = 166) = 51.21, p < .001, Nagelkerke R² = .36. Findings suggest traumatic symptomatology affects clinical presentations amongst youth with HSBs and predicts substance-related behaviours, supporting the self-medication hypothesis.