Men’s Sexual Interest in Children: One-Year Incidence and Correlates in a Population-Based Sample of Finnish Male Twins

Pekka Santtila, Jan Antfolk, Anna Räfså, Maria Hartwig, Heikki Sariola, N. Kenneth Sandnabba, Andreas Mokros

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Abstract

In a study of 1,310 Finnish adult male twins we found that sexual interest in children aged 12 or younger was reported by 0.2% of the sample. Sexual interest in children aged 15 or younger was reported by 3.3%. Participants reporting sexual interest in children aged 15 or younger were younger, reported stronger sexual desire, and had experienced more childhood sexual and nonsexual abuse. The present study is the first to give a population-based estimate of the incidence of sexual interest in children among adult men. The 12-month incidence of sexual interest in children below the age of 16 years is roughly comparable to the one-year incidence of major depression or the lifetime prevalence of transvestitic fetishism.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)115–134
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Child Sexual Abuse
Volume24
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2015
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • child sexual abuse
  • hebephilia
  • incidence
  • pedophilia
  • sexual interest

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