Pubertal Age in Homosexual and Heterosexual Sexual Offenders Against Children, Pubescents, and Adults

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that homosexual men erotically attracted to physically mature partners (androphiles) reach puberty earlier, on average, than comparable heterosexual men. This study investigated whether the same early onset of puberty is observed in homosexual men attracted to children (pedophiles) or to pubescents (hebephiles). Subjects were 721 white, male, convicted sexual offenders, originally part of a large-scale study of sexual offending. Homosexual offenders against adults reached puberty earlier than heterosexual offenders against adults, and homosexual offenders against pubescents reached puberty earlier than heterosexual offenders against pubescents. In contrast, there was no difference between the homosexual and the heterosexual offenders against children on this variable. These results suggest that homosexual hebephilia has more etiological factors in common with androphilia than does homosexual pedophilia.