Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males
Seto (2017) proposes sexual orientation not only varies as a function of gender, but also as a function of age. Few studies have examined the conceptualization of sexual age orientation. The current study evaluates the polymorphism of sexual interest in children (i.e., simultaneous attraction to mul...
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PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Sexual Offending |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/sotrap.13135 |
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| author | Valerie Arenzon Ashley Curtis Hannah de Almeida Crystal Evanoff |
| author_facet | Valerie Arenzon Ashley Curtis Hannah de Almeida Crystal Evanoff |
| author_sort | Valerie Arenzon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Seto (2017) proposes sexual orientation not only varies as a function of gender, but also as a function of age. Few studies have examined the conceptualization of sexual age orientation. The current study evaluates the polymorphism of sexual interest in children (i.e., simultaneous attraction to multiple age categories), the exclusivity of sexual interest (i.e., attraction to children only or children and adults), and gender preference (i.e., preference for males or females) in the general population. Data were obtained through adult males (N = 170) using online self-reports (overlapping sample from Mundy & Cioe, 2019). Findings revealed that most individuals reporting sexual attraction to multiple age categories had a higher degree of preference for one age group over others. When looking at sexual interest in children among teleiophilic individuals, the concordance indices were higher between adjacent age groups compared to distant age groups. Specifically, among individuals who reported teleiophilic sexual interest, 36% were also reporting hebephilic sexual interest (adjacent category), while 17.7% reported pedophilic sexual interest (non-adjacent category). Finally, there was a significant positive correlation between pedophilic interest and hebephilic interest (τb = .602, p < .001). Together, results provide support for the chronophilia theory. Concordance indices in future studies may inform differences between exclusive and nonexclusive interest in children and aid the development of informed risk assessment tools and destigmatized prevention programs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cbe95105ba0d4a998a0c48b07731b2c6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2699-8440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
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| series | Sexual Offending |
| spelling | doaj-art-cbe95105ba0d4a998a0c48b07731b2c62025-08-20T03:21:38ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologySexual Offending2699-84402025-06-012010.5964/sotrap.13135sotrap.13135Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of MalesValerie Arenzon0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6621-6590Ashley Curtis1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6649-781XHannah de Almeida2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0456-1529Crystal Evanoff3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2232-8157Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New ZealandDepartment of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, CanadaSeto (2017) proposes sexual orientation not only varies as a function of gender, but also as a function of age. Few studies have examined the conceptualization of sexual age orientation. The current study evaluates the polymorphism of sexual interest in children (i.e., simultaneous attraction to multiple age categories), the exclusivity of sexual interest (i.e., attraction to children only or children and adults), and gender preference (i.e., preference for males or females) in the general population. Data were obtained through adult males (N = 170) using online self-reports (overlapping sample from Mundy & Cioe, 2019). Findings revealed that most individuals reporting sexual attraction to multiple age categories had a higher degree of preference for one age group over others. When looking at sexual interest in children among teleiophilic individuals, the concordance indices were higher between adjacent age groups compared to distant age groups. Specifically, among individuals who reported teleiophilic sexual interest, 36% were also reporting hebephilic sexual interest (adjacent category), while 17.7% reported pedophilic sexual interest (non-adjacent category). Finally, there was a significant positive correlation between pedophilic interest and hebephilic interest (τb = .602, p < .001). Together, results provide support for the chronophilia theory. Concordance indices in future studies may inform differences between exclusive and nonexclusive interest in children and aid the development of informed risk assessment tools and destigmatized prevention programs.https://doi.org/10.5964/sotrap.13135chronophiliapedophiliahebephiliasexual age orientation |
| spellingShingle | Valerie Arenzon Ashley Curtis Hannah de Almeida Crystal Evanoff Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males Sexual Offending chronophilia pedophilia hebephilia sexual age orientation |
| title | Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males |
| title_full | Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males |
| title_fullStr | Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males |
| title_short | Overlap in Erotic Age Preferences: Support for the Chronophilia Theory in a Community Self-Report Sample of Males |
| title_sort | overlap in erotic age preferences support for the chronophilia theory in a community self report sample of males |
| topic | chronophilia pedophilia hebephilia sexual age orientation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/sotrap.13135 |
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