Intellectual functioning, parental age, and sexual orientation in 991 male sexual offenders were investigated. Sources of data included semistructured interviews, clinical charts, phallometric tests, and self-administered questionnaires. The results suggest two main conclusions: (i) Among pedophiles in general, erotic preference moves away from adult women along two dimensions: age and sex. The extent of this movement is greater, along both dimensions, for pedophiles with lower levels of intellectual functioning. (ii) High maternal age (or some factor it rerpresents) [the authors hypothesize that the existence of older brothers might be the actual causing factor] decreases the likelihood of exclusive sexual interest in girls. These two factors summate, so that a pedophile with both factors is more likely to be sexually interested in boys than a pedophile with only one.
DD: Ik heb nog mijn twijfels over de methode waarmee 'echte' en pseudo-pedofielen hier werden onderscheiden, onder de puellafielen (mijn term voor meisjes-georiënteerde pedofielen) lijken er een flink aantal semi-normale heterosexuelen te hebben gezeten. Het genoemde verschil in intellectueel gehalte bevindt zich overigens aan de onderkant: Er zijn meer below-average-intelligence pedofielen en in het bijzonder puerofielen, het aantal above-average is gelijk. Zowel pedofielen als niet-pedofielen kwamen uit een groep van mensen die illegaal of storend sexueel gedrag vertonen, waarbij pedofielen werden gedefinieerd als mensen met minimaal twee offenses tegen meisjes onder 17 of jongens onder 18, waaronder minimaal een onder 11, en geen tegen personen boven deze leeftijd. Probleem van deze aanpak, is dat alleen die pedofielen worden meegenomen waarvan verboden sexueel gedrag wordt vastgesteld. Degenen die niet 'gepakt' worden zullen in het onderzoek afwezig zijn.
The reliability of the notion that pedophilia is caused by sexual abuse in childhood was explored by examining retrospective self-reports of 344 males. Included in the study were 77 heterosexual pedophiles, 54 homosexual pedophiles, 51 nonpedophilic sex offenders against children, 36 sex offenders against physically mature females, 75 heterosexual paid volunteers who erotically preferred mature females, and 51 homosexual clients who preferred mature males. For each sex offender the differential diagnosis of an erotic preference for minors vs. a preference for physically mature partners was made by means of the phallometric test of erotic gender and age preferences. The analysis of self-reports confirmed that the proportion of pedophiles who report having been sexually abused in childhood by mature persons is larger than that of men who were not charged for or accused of a sex offense against a child though the difference is relatively small (28.6 vs. 13.9 and 10.7% for the heterosexual pedophiles and the two groups of gynephiles, respectively, and 25.9 vs. 11.8% for the homosexual pedophiles and androphiles, respectively). Further analysis demonstrated, however, that pedophiles who admitted having an erotic interest in children significantly more often claimed that they had been sexually abused as children than pedophiles who did not admit having such feelings. This interdependence renders the reliability of these self-reports questionable.
Retrospective self-reports about childhood curiosity to see persons in the nude were used to compare the development of the erotic sex and age preferences among 4 groups of males: 46 heterosexual pedophiles, 30 homosexual pedophiles, 462 gynephiles (who erotically prefer physically mature females), and 51 androphiles (who erotically prefer physically mature males). Results suggest (1) the establishment of erotic sex preference precedes that of erotic age preference, and (2) a greater proportion of pedophiles than of individuals who prefer physically mature partners remembers curiosity in their own childhood to see nude children without remembering such curiosity in regard to adults. A further set of retrospective self-reports, obtained from 78 gynephilic male university students suggests that in gynephiles the erotic appeal of children of the preferred sex ceases by about the time of puberty.
DD: Overview of research, in the first place the author's own research, into (the causes of) pedophilia. Neutral in nature, and gives scientific arguments to argue that pedophilia is at least partly genetic, although I personally find those arguments too weak to speak of 'evidence'.
Cite: This study compared relevant information about the prevalence of the various kinds of paraphilias in first degree relatives of 33 pedophiles (defined according to DSM - III) hospitalized at Johns Hopkins for therapy, and of 33 patients hospitalized for depression. There was a greater prevalence of paraphilics in the families of the pedophilic probands and all were characterized by the probands as pedophiles and as males. The various paraphilics in the control group of depressives indicated a variety of paraphilias in their families. Furthermore, in contrast to the pedophilic sample, the morbidity risk in regard to paraphilias (calculated by means of a shortened Weinberg method) among the relatives of the paraphilics in the control sample was minimal.
Dit artikel geeft een overzicht van de belangrijkste psychologische en biologische theorieen over parafilieën. Nadat de paradigmatische achtergronden van deze benaderingen toegelicht zijn, wordt aandacht besteed aan de definitie en het voorkomen van parafilieën. Vervolgens worden een aantal theorieen beschreven. Daarbij wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen normaliteits en pathologische theorieen. De eerste beschouwen (sommige) parafilieën als deelverzameling van de normale seksuele variatie. De tweede definieren ze als een stoornis. In de afsluitende evaluatie wordt de zeer gebrekkige kennis van parafilieën benadrukt. Ook worden klinische implicaties geschetst. Gepleit wordt voor een biopsychosociale invalshoek, met als ideologisch motto "optimale variabiliteit".
The association between perpetration of sexual abuse and the offender's own victimization as a child has been well documented in the literature. Various researchers have examined this relationship by assessing the exclusiveness of the sexual abuser's behavior, the gender of his victims and the gender of his own childhood abuser. This study was designed to assess the differences between pedophiles and hebephiles in features of their own childhood victimization. Subjects were 135 pedophiles and 43 hebephiles who admitted to their offences. A total of 42% of pedophiles and 44% of hebephiles reported being sexually victimized in their own childhoods. Pedophiles reported being molested at a younger age than hebephiles. Both groups appear to chose their age specific victims in accordance with the age of their own experience of sexual victimization. Although the cause of child molestation remains undetermined these results support social learning and modeling theories.
Cite (Sandfort): The origin of paedophile desires, like the origin of other sexual orientations including heterosexuality, is still unknown. A number of theories have been proposed from psychodynamic and behavioristic viewpoints. But where hypotheses derived from these theories have been tested, the results don't support the theories. So, in a recent overview of research studies, Langevin concludes that the origin of paedophilia is still an enigma.
The present study examined the parent-child attachments, typical coping styles, and childhood sexual abuse among 30 child molesters, 24 nonsexual offenders, and 29 nonoffenders. The results indicated that all subjects reported greater security in their attachments to their mothers than to their fathers and the insecure patterns of childhood attachments were related to ineffective adult coping. The only difference observed in characteristic coping showed that child molesters were more likely to engage in emotion focused strategies. Child molesters reported having experienced high levels of childhood sexual abuse and these experiences appear to have been more distressing to them than to other subjects. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and treatment.
Paraphilias may occur with brain disease, but the nature of this relationship is unclear. The authors report 2 patients with late-life homosexual pedophilia. The first met criteria for frontotemporal dementia; the second had bilateral hippocampal sclerosis. Both were professional men with recent increases in sexual behavior. In both, 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed prominent right temporal lobe hypometabolism. These cases and the literature suggest that bilateral anterior temporal disease affecting right more than left temporal lobe can increase sexual interest. A predisposition to pedophilia may be unmasked by hypersexuality from brain disease. These observations have potential implications for all neurologically based paraphilias.
Cite: Another type of findings, relevant to a possible physiological disposition towards pedophilia was reported by Langevin and his group. These investigators reported crude structural anomalies of the brain of pedophiles, detected by CAT (computer assisted tomography).