Longitudinal Network Structure and Changes of Clinical Risk and Protective Factors in a Nationwide Sample of Forensic Psychiatric Patients

In this study, we investigated network configurations of 14 Clinical risk and protective factors in a sample of 317 male forensic psychiatric patients across two time points: at the time of admission to the forensic psychiatric centers (T1) and at the time of unconditional release (T2). In terms of network structure, the strongest risk edge was between “hostility–violation of terms” at T1, and between “hostility–impulsivity” at T2. “Problem insight–crime responsibility” was the strongest protective edge, and “impulsivity–coping skills” was the strongest between-cluster edge, at both time points, respectively. In terms of strength centrality, “cooperation with treatment” had the highest strength centrality at both measurement occasions. This study expands the risk assessment field toward a better understanding of dynamic relationships between individual clinical risk and protective factors and points to the highly central risk and protective factors, which would be the best for future treatment targets.