NCJ Number
142301
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: (March-April 1993) Pages: 315-324
Date Published
1993
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the feasibility of two components of a model that would describe the normal development of erotic sex and age preference and that could foster etiologic research into pedophilia. The first part of the study compared pedophiles with men who erotically prefer mature female partners (gynephiles) in terms of the development of erotic sex and age preferences; the second part examined the age at which gynephiles stop experiencing erotic curiosity toward children.
Abstract
A total of 589 nonpsychotic men of above-borderline intelligence participated in the study, including 46 heterosexual pedophiles, 30 homosexual pedophiles, 462 gynephilic men, and 51 androphilic clients (preferring physically mature male partners). The two groups of pedophiles were selected from a sample of sex offenders against children and were subdivided into three classes according to their degree of admitting their offense. The results showed that men experience the establishment of erotic sex preference before that of erotic age preference. A greater proportion of pedophiles than men who preferred mature partners remembered their childhood curiosity to see nude children, but did not remember being curious to see nude adults. This finding suggests that the occurrence of this paraphilia in pedophiles is predetermined at an early developmental phase. Further data, obtained from 78 gynephilic university students, indicated that in gynephiles, the erotic appeal of children of the preferred sex ceases by the time they reach puberty. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 18 references