Abstract
The neurodevelopmental theory of pedohebephilia states that sexual interests in children arise from early neurodevelopmental perturbations, as, for example, evidenced by increased non-right-handedness, more childhood head injuries, and reduced intelligence and height. As corroborating evidence largely rests on samples of convicted men, we conducted online surveys among German-speaking (Study 1, N = 199) and English-speaking men (Study 2, N = 632), specifically targeting community members with pedohebephilic or teleiophilic interests. Although we detected theoretically meaningful sexual interest patterns in an embedded viewing time task, we could not detect expected neurodevelopmental differences between teleiophilic and pedohebephilic men in either of the two studies. Strikingly, pedohebephilic men who reported convictions for sexual offenses emerged as shorter and less intelligent than pedohebephilic men without convictions in Study 2. While elucidating possible third variable confounds, results have to be interpreted cautiously because of the methodological problems inherent to non-matched case control designs.
Highlights
In order to solve the puzzle of what may cause pedophilia or hebephilia, that is, adult men's sexual attraction to sexually immature pre- or pubescent partners, respectively (Seto, 2012), numerous studies have compared neurodevelopmental differences between participants with and without pedophilia
Our data appear to be more in line with research pointing toward a link between markers for neurodevelopmental differences and norm-breaking/criminal behavior, instead of pedohebephilia per se calling for a more stringent test based on adequate statistical power
While there is no such thing as a representative sample of men with pedohebephilic interests, studies from community settings represent an important corrective to data from pedohebephilic men "who are available for study because they are either distressed by their sexual interests [...] or criminally charged for sexual offenses" (Seto, 2004, p. 323)
Summary
In order to solve the puzzle of what may cause pedophilia or hebephilia, that is, adult men's sexual attraction to sexually immature pre- or pubescent partners, respectively (Seto, 2012), numerous studies have compared neurodevelopmental differences between participants with and without pedophilia (see Tenbergen et al, 2015 for an overview). Adding the fact that there are many men with pedohebephilic interests who refrain from offending and are socially well adapted (Joyal et al, 2019), it is questionable whether these differences really are due to patterns of sexual attraction and not to other factors that are associated with (having been or) being arrested or convicted. To rule out such an alternative interpretation, a replication of neurodevelopmental differences between participants with and without pedophilia in community samples seems mandatory (Joyal et al, 2007)
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