Acceptance of sexual attraction and its link to psychological distress and sexual offending among pedohebephilic clients: results from a preliminary analysis
Introduction: Pedohebephilic disorder is characterized by intense sexual urges or fantasies involving children, which can lead to distress or sexual behavior with children. While theoretical and qualitative accounts suggest that accepting one’s pedohebephilic sexual interests may help mitigate both distress and problematic behaviors, the only published quantitative study to date has linked acceptance with behavior but did not analyze its effect on distress.Methods: We examined the relationship between acceptance of sexual interests and child sexual abuse (CSA), the use of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), and psychological distress in 238 pedohebephilic and teleiophilic men outside the judicial system (i.e., in the “Dunkelfeld”).Results: Compared to teleiophilic individuals, pedohebephilic individuals showed lower acceptance of their sexual interests. No significant differences were found between groups regarding past sexual offending. In a subsample of 197 pedohebephilic individuals (n = 197), correlations with recent sexual behavior were minimal. In another subsample of pedohebephilic men (n = 84) with data on psychological distress, increased acceptance was associated with decreased psychological distress, although this association weakened among those reporting recent offenses.Discussion: Acceptance of one’s sexual interests is associated with reduced distress in pedohebephilic disorder among non-offending individuals. However, its role among offending individuals remains unclear. Efforts to improve measuring the acceptance of one’s sexual interests and further explore its role in pedohebephilic disorder are warranted.