TY - JOUR
T1 - Pedophilia is associated with lower sexual interest in adults
T2 - Meta-analyses and a systematic review with men who had sexually offended against children
AU - Schippers, Eveline E.
AU - Smid, Wineke J.
AU - Hoogsteder, Larissa M.
AU - Planting, Caroline H.M.
AU - de Vogel, Vivienne
N1 - Funding Information: We thank Nikita Feringa for her help acquiring the data for this study and Pim Oomen for his help in double coding the studies. Also, we thank the various authors who have send contributions to the meta-analyses. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/3/1
Y1 - 2023/3/1
N2 - Sexual interest in children is an important factor contributing to sexual (re)offending against children. The current state of research makes it difficult to conclude if people with pedophilia are overly interested in children, or have lower interest in adults, or both. This is relevant knowledge in treatment for preventing sexual (re)offenses against children. This study aimed to systematically analyze sexual interest in both children and adults in samples of men with pedophilia and comparison groups. A total of 55 studies (N = 8465) were included in four meta-analyses and a systematic review. Most included studies considered people who had sexually offended against children (PSOC; nPSOC = 5213). Results indicated that PSOC with pedophilia did not have a clear sexual preference for either children or adults. Compared to comparison groups, they had more absolute sexual interest in children and lower sexual interest in adults. We conclude that the lack of sexual interest in adults may be a relevant factor in PSOC with pedophilia. More studies are needed to disentangle sexual interest in children from sexual interest in adults, while using carefully matched comparison groups and appropriate research designs.
AB - Sexual interest in children is an important factor contributing to sexual (re)offending against children. The current state of research makes it difficult to conclude if people with pedophilia are overly interested in children, or have lower interest in adults, or both. This is relevant knowledge in treatment for preventing sexual (re)offenses against children. This study aimed to systematically analyze sexual interest in both children and adults in samples of men with pedophilia and comparison groups. A total of 55 studies (N = 8465) were included in four meta-analyses and a systematic review. Most included studies considered people who had sexually offended against children (PSOC; nPSOC = 5213). Results indicated that PSOC with pedophilia did not have a clear sexual preference for either children or adults. Compared to comparison groups, they had more absolute sexual interest in children and lower sexual interest in adults. We conclude that the lack of sexual interest in adults may be a relevant factor in PSOC with pedophilia. More studies are needed to disentangle sexual interest in children from sexual interest in adults, while using carefully matched comparison groups and appropriate research designs.
KW - Meta-analysis
KW - Pedophilia
KW - Sexual interest
KW - Sexual offenses against children
KW - Sexual preference
KW - Systematic review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147330197&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2022.101813
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2022.101813
M3 - Review article
SN - 1359-1789
VL - 69
JO - AGGRESSION AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR
JF - AGGRESSION AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR
M1 - 101813
ER -