Occurrence of Paedophilia in the General Population
17 June 2007This is written to supplement the post which describes the occurrence of paedophilia in child sex offenders
From Hall, et al -
Consistent with previous data (Barbaree & Marshall, 1989; Briere & Runtz, 1989; Fedora et al., 1992; Freund & Watson, 1991), 20 % of the current subjects self-reported pedophilic interest and 26.25 % exhibited penile arousal to pedophilic stimuli that equaled or exceeded arousal to adult stimuli.
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Eighty subjects completed the study. [..] Twenty-six subjects [approximately 33%] exhibited sexual arousal to the child slides that equaled or exceeded their arousal to the adult slides.
[..]
….a sizable minority of men in normal populations who have not molested children may exhibit pedophilic fantasies and arousal. In recent studies, 12 to 32% of community college samples of men reported sexual attraction to children (B &R, 1989, H,G & C. 1990) or exhibited penile response to pedophilic stimuli (B&M, 1989, F et al, 1992, F&L, 1989, F & W, 1989). Thus, arousal to pedophilic stimuli does not necessarily correspond with pedophilic behavior (Hall, 1990; Schouten & Simon, 1992), although there are arguments to the contrary (Quinsey & Laws, 1990).
From the British Journal of Social Work -
A self-administer questionnaire was given to a sample of 92 female and 91 male public sector child care workers. Results showed a significantly higher percentage of males (15 per cent) than females (4 per cent) expressed a sexual interest in children.
From Is Pedophilia a Mental Disorder? -
In a sample of nearly 200 university males, 21% reported some sexual attraction to small children, 9% described sexual fantasies involving children, 5% admitted to having masturbated to sexual fantasies of children, and 7% indicated they might have sex with a child if not caught (Briere & Runtz, 1989). Briere and Runtz remarked that “given the probable social undesirability of such admissions, we may hypothesize that the actual rates were even higher” (p. 71). In another sample with 100 male and 180 female undergraduate students, 22% of males and 3% of females reported sexual attraction to a child (Smiljanich & Briere, 1996).
Laboratory researchers have validated physiologically the self-report studies of nonclinical, nonpedophile identified volunteers. In a sample of 80 “normal” volunteers, over 25% self-reported some pedophilic interest or in the plethysmographic phase exhibited penile arousal to a child that equaled or exceeded arousal to an adult (Hall, Hirschman, & Oliver, 1995). In another study, “normal” men’s erections to pictures of pubescent and younger girls averaged 70 and 50%, respectively, of their responses to adult females (Quinsey, Steinman, Bergersen, & Holmes, 1975). In a control group of 66 males recruited from hospital staff and the community, 17% showed a penile response that was pedophilic (Fedora et al., 1992). Freund and Watson (1991), studying community male volunteers in a plethysmography classification study, found that19%were misclassified as having an erotic preference for minors. Freund and Costell (1970) studied 48 young Czech soldiers who were shown slides of children between 4 and 10, both male and female, as well as adolescents and adults, male and female. Penile responsivity to female children, ages 4–10, was intermediate to adolescent and adult females and males in one scoring system. In the other scoring system, all 48 soldiers showed penile response to adult females, as did 40 of 48 to adolescent females, and notably, 28 of 48 showed penile response to the female children age 4–10.
10 Responses to “Occurrence of Paedophilia in the General Population”
June 24th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
“26.25 % exhibited penile arousal to pedophilic stimuli that equaled or exceeded arousal to adult stimuli.”
26.25% is taken from their audio tape test: “21 subjects (26.25%) exhibited sexual arousal to the child consenting tapes that equaled or exceeded their arousal to the adult consenting tapes.”
~33% exhibited preferential arousal in their test using slides:
“Eighty subjects completed the study. … Twenty-six subjects exhibited sexual arousal to the child slides that equaled or exceeded their arousal to the adult slides.”
(26*100)/80
32.5
June 25th, 2007 at 4:02 am
How many are really pedophiles, though?
I’d say about 15% in both sexes.
There are obvious reasons why the Hall study cannot be taken as a direct estimate of pedophilia.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Thanks Jillium; I’ve added the latter quote to the post.
Daniel,
“How many are really pedophiles, though?”
Those who were more aroused by the paedophilic stimuli than the adult stimuli.
“There are obvious reasons why the Hall study cannot be taken as a direct estimate of pedophilia.”
Such as?
June 25th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Those who were more aroused by the paedophilic stimuli than the adult stimuli
The key to the extremely high rates of “pedophilic” preference in the hall study, spans from the lack of choice in stimulus material. As you know, men were offered prepubescent and then mature adult stimuli of a female nature.
This mean that a large number of men who are ephebophiles probably preferred the prepube stimuli to the adult stimuli. If adolescent material were available, they would show a preference for that.
This also means that all homosexuals are forced on to a heterosexual scale of peference. And what, on this scale of preference is most masculine? Possibly, the androgynous bodies of prepubescent girls.
Among other complaints are that the sample was biased towards unmarried (socially excluded?) men and that child pornography breaks a taboo, and this may impact upon the results. Regarding the latter, at least, I’m willing to accept that the taboo may work in either direction.
And in fact, a small complaint of bias in the other direction is that three pedosexually active men were removed from the sample, for no other reason.
But ultimately, Hall et al did not conclude that ~30% of the sample were pedophiles, and rightly so.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Anonymous,
“The key to the extremely high rates of “pedophilic” preference in the hall study, spans from the lack of choice in stimulus material. As you know, men were offered prepubescent and then mature adult stimuli of a female nature.”
If they were more aroused by the pre-pubescent stimuli than the adult stimuli, do you deny that they are paedophiles?
“This mean that a large number of men who are ephebophiles probably preferred the prepube stimuli to the adult stimuli. If adolescent material were available, they would show a preference for that.”
Why do you make that assumption? Do you have any evidence which suggests that ephebophiles are more attracted to pre-pubescent children than adults?
“And what, on this scale of preference is most masculine? Possibly, the androgynous bodies of prepubescent girls.”
I don’t know why you consider girls to be more masucline than women.
“Among other complaints are that the sample was biased towards unmarried (socially excluded?) men”
It used students. The fact that they weren’t married is due to age rather than sexual preference.
“child pornography breaks a taboo, and this may impact upon the results.”
How?
“But ultimately, Hall et al did not conclude that ~30% of the sample were pedophiles, and rightly so.”
But he did conclude that between 26-33% of people have a significant attraction to pre-pubescent children. If someone is over 16 and has a primary/exclusive attraction to pre-pubescent children, that person is a paedophile.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Sorry, BLue, the anonymous user was me.
If they were more aroused by the pre-pubescent stimuli than the adult stimuli, do you deny that they are paedophiles?
If your tastebuds are tickled more by mild curry than hot curry, do you deny that you may still by chance prefer medium curry.
Ephebophilic arousal was not accounted for, sice epehbophilic stimuli was not used!
Why do you make that assumption? Do you have any evidence which suggests that ephebophiles are more attracted to pre-pubescent children than adults?
I did not make the assumption. Probably about half of the ephebophiles would have (literally) plumped for the prepubescent stimuli, though.
I don’t know why you consider girls to be more masucline than women
Less secondary sexual character = more androgynous = closer to the homosexual centre of attraction than a mature woman.
It used students. The fact that they weren’t married is due to age rather than sexual preference
It did not use students. A convenience sample was recruited from newspaper ads.
How?
It may turn out that the first time, or extremely rare breaking of a child sex taboo leads to a stronger physiological reaction and higher arousal. Still, the man may have been able to repress this or deny their feelings to the effect of lower arousal.
But he did conclude that between 26-33% of people have a significant attraction to pre-pubescent children. If someone is over 16 and has a primary/exclusive attraction to pre-pubescent children, that person is a paedophile.
Not the case when other significant attractions such as androphile homosexuality and ephebophilia are not accounted for by the stimulus material. Look at my curry analogy again.
June 26th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
“Sorry, BLue, the anonymous user was me.”
Heh, I thought you were intending to post anonymously.
“If your tastebuds are tickled more by mild curry than hot curry, do you deny that you may still by chance prefer medium curry.
Ephebophilic arousal was not accounted for, sice epehbophilic stimuli was not used!”
I personally don’t know whether most people who are attracted to children more than adults are also more attracted to teens than either children are adults. I don’t think that has ever been researched, so I doubt that anyone actually knows the answer.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
I don’t think that it needs to be researched. In most tests (and certainly most self-descriptions), a person who prefers prepubescent children to adults is not automatically called a pedophile, because -
a) an ephebophilic category was considered and satisfied some participants more trhan the child category
b) if (a) was neglected, the experimenter was wise enough not to jump to premature conclusions.
Also note that my argument is as follows:
Of those who were equally or preferentially aroused by adult and child stimuli, some must be ephebophiles (hence the equal arousal). Those who slightly preferred children are probably also ephebophiles with low AoAs. Also, some of those who slightly preferred the adult stimuli will also be ephebophiles.
The only way that around 30% of this sample could have been pedophiles, is if there was only two categories, and those who were in equal appreciation were classed as pedophiles.
I would describe ephebophilia as a preferential attraction to those between the ages of 12 and 20 (adolescent). I would also assert that it is probably twice as common as pedophilia, for reasons related to reproduction and darwinian evolution.
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
The study of the university students is bound to be very unrealistic. The researchers assume more of them were aroused by children when I strongly believe it to be the reverse. It is very important to remember the nature of university students, I know I wouldn’t take any questionnaire seriously if it was asking me if I masturabated over young children, these guys were almost undoubtedly taking the rise out of a poorly constructed questionnaire. I really wish there was an easier way to establish how many paedophiles are not actually acting illegally.
January 4th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Hi Katie,
I understand your argument, however the results of these questionnaires are consistent with results from penile plethysmography (which measures sexual arousal physically).
“I really wish there was an easier way to establish how many paedophiles are not actually acting illegally.”
Unfortunately, that will be extremely difficult to establish until representative samples of paedophiles can be studied anonymously. At present, most studies use convicted child sex offenders who may or may not be paedophiles, which is clearly a biased sample. Non-offending paedophiles are unlikely to “come out” as paedophiles to be studied, as non-offending paedophiles are also viewed with strong suspicion, distrust and disgust by society.