Childhood trauma and dimensions of criminal thinking in individuals referred for forensic psychiatric evaluation

Childhood trauma has been consistently associated with criminal behavior, yet its relationship with criminal thinking remains understudied. This single-center, cross-sectional study examined the associations between childhood trauma and dimensions of criminal thinking among individuals referred for criminal responsibility evaluation. Eighty-four individuals evaluated at the Observation Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine, a national referral center in Türkiye, completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form and the Criminal Thinking Scale. Associations between the total and subscale scores were examined using correlation analysis followed by simple linear regression analysis. Mean age of the participants was 36.98 ± 10.79 years. CTS total score was not significantly associated with the CTQ-SF total or subscale scores. Power Orientation was the only criminal-thinking dimension significantly associated with the total childhood trauma score (ρ = 0.318, p = 0.003). Power Orientation was also positively correlated with emotional abuse (ρ = 0.334, p = 0.002) and sexual abuse (ρ = 0.290, p = 0.007). In the unadjusted regression model, higher total childhood trauma scores were associated with higher Power Orientation scores (β = 0.338, p = 0.002), accounting for 11.4% of the variance (R² = 0.114); the association remained significant after adjustment for age, education, substance use, prior incarceration, and offense group (β = 0.326, p = 0.002, model R² = 0.254). These findings indicate that childhood trauma may be associated with specific dimensions of criminal thinking rather than generalized criminal cognition. Associations of emotional and sexual abuse with power-oriented thinking suggest that different forms of childhood trauma may be linked to distinct offense-related cognitive styles and support the potential value of trauma-informed approaches in forensic psychiatric assessment and rehabilitation.