Non-offending Pedophiles

Cantor, James M.; McPhail, Ian V.

doi:10.1007/s11930-016-0076-z

Cited by 131 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Participant 4Whilst private therapy is an option for some, for other individuals within the target group it is not financially viable, and with UK prevention in its 'embryonic stages' (Participant 4) there is an apparent lack of opportunities for help. This is recognised within the literature; compared to treatment of paedophiles involved in the CJS, treatment with non-offending individuals is considered underdeveloped (Cantor & McPhail, 2016). In times of little available funding it may be that there are few current options for non-offending paedophiles because primary and secondary prevention interventions are difficult to evidence (Brown & Saied-Tessier 2015) and…”

Section: Subordinate Theme 32: Lack Of Adequate Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Needs of Individuals at Risk of Perpetrating Child Sexual Abuse: A Practitioner Perspective

Goodier

Lievesley

2018

Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice

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Research estimates that as many as one in twenty children in the UK have been a victim of child sexual abuse. The scale of this problem motivates prevention efforts, however there is an apparent absence of preventative intervention for those individuals who are concerned about their sexual preference for children, including those who have not committed an offence. Due to the sensitive nature of child sexual abuse and stigma surrounding paedophilia, individuals who are concerned about their sexual interests in children are unlikely to willingly participate in research. By investigating the experiences of staff that are employed by an organisation offering an anonymous helpline for people who experience sexual thoughts and behaviours towards children, this research aims to develop understanding of the needs of those individuals, in order to establish how child sexual abuse might be prevented. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five practitioners from a sexual abuse prevention organisation and thematic analysis revealed three main themes; Moving service users forward, Barriers to intervention and Prevention: Missing pieces. The first theme identifies ways in which practitioners may help service users to identify their problem, associated risk factors and how they might begin to move forward. The second theme addresses certain factors that prevent service users from accessing or engaging with primary interventions. Finally, the third theme discusses the ways in which primary prevention could be built upon, by considering participants experiences that are shaped by their work in the field of primary intervention, and their experience of service users. This is the first time the needs of those who may benefit from primary prevention in the UK have been explored in this way; therefore each theme is discussed in relation to primary prevention of child sexual abuse.

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Section: Subordinate Theme 32: Lack Of Adequate Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Needs of Individuals at Risk of Perpetrating Child Sexual Abuse: A Practitioner Perspective

Goodier

Lievesley

2018

Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice

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“…That is, we used the tendency to suppress unwanted thoughts and an index of psychological wellbeing as indirect proxies of internalized stigma among MAPs, while selfreported frequency of actively avoiding children was used at the outset of the project as an indication of self-perceived risk of committing acts of sexual abuse (though see above for an alternative interpretation of this construct that still reflects the internalization of stigma). This strategy was used such as to not prime themes related to stigmatization, and to not implicitly assume this population were at an enhanced risk of sexually offending against children (Cantor & McPhail, 2016). In addition, our question about help-seeking behaviors was nonspecific, and so responses could include a combination of participants accessing professionally delivered schemes and more informal social supports.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While sexual interests towards minors and other paraphilias have been identified as key risk factors for sexual (re-)offending (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005;Helmus, Ó Ciardha, & Seto, 2015), contemporary research in Germany has reported that fewer than half of all individuals convicted of child abuse offenses actually have a pedophilic sexual preference (Schmidt, Mokros, & Banse, 2013). Further, there is an unknown number of individuals with pedophilia as their predominant sexual arousal pattern (as well as MAPs with other ages of attraction) in the community, who never commit any offenses at all (Cantor & McPhail, 2016). Some estimates place the specific prevalence of pedophilia within the general (male) population at between <.1-5% (Dombert et al, 2016;Seto, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The internalization of social stigma among minor-attracted persons: Implications for treatment

Lievesley¹,

Harper²,

Elliott³

2018

Preprint

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In this paper, we sought to build on existing stigmatization research by examining the extent to which internalized stigmatization (i.e., the personal adoption and incorporation of social views, operationalized as thought suppression – an avoidant coping strategy – and low psychological wellbeing) among minor-attracted persons (MAPs) may impact upon help-seeking behaviors and their avoidance of children. We adopted a cross-sectional anonymous survey design to recruit a sample of self-identified MAPs (N = 183) from prominent online support fora. We found that increased levels of suppression and lower levels of psychological wellbeing were associated with lower levels of hope about the future, but higher levels of both shame and guilt about having a sexual interest in minors. Thought suppression was not significantly associated with outcomes related to help-seeking behaviors, but did significantly higher rates of actively avoiding children, even after controlling for psychological wellbeing and other emotional variables. Independently, lower levels of self-reported psychological wellbeing was associated with a desire for more support and higher rates of actively avoiding children. We explore the potential implications of our data in relation to treating and supporting MAPs within the community, increasing their wellbeing, and encouraging help-seeking behavior. A freely available preprint of this paper is available at https://psyarxiv.com/8dr69/.

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“…For instance, perceived stigmatization was associated with increased levels of fear related to being 'discovered' or 'outed' as a pedophile, as well as being predictive of social isolation, perceived social distance from what they may perceive as being the 'normal' population, and decreased self-esteem. Observing these relationships is important as they have significant implications for public health from both a mental wellbeing and child abuse prevention perspective (Cantor, 2014;Cantor & McPhail, 2016). From a wellbeing perspective, people with sexual interests in children have reported that professionals working with them appear to focus more on risk reduction (e.g., controlling sexual urges), despite them preferring to be supported in relation to the more general psychological wellbeing issues mentioned above (B4U-ACT, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, these individuals seek out a range of online fora (e.g., Virtuous Pedophiles and B4U-ACT) wherein they can communicate with and be supported by other non-offending people with pedophilic interests in a safe environment. The scale of the use of these fora suggests that the level of supply of services to support this group is far lower than the demand for them (B4U-ACT, 2011; Cantor & McPhail, 2016), in spite of professional and mental health services that target this population being shown to both increase mental wellbeing and reduce dynamic risk factors associated with sexual offending (Beier et al, 2015; for a broader discussion of these risk factors, see Gillespie, Mitchell, Fisher, & Beech, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanizing pedophilia as stigma reduction: A large-scale intervention study

Harper¹,

Lievesley²,

Blagden³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The stigmatization of people with pedophilic sexual interests is the topic of growing academic and professional consideration, owing to its potential role in moderating pedophiles’ emotional wellbeing, and motivation and engagement in child abuse prevention schemes. Thus, improving attitudes and reducing stigmatization toward this group is of paramount importance. Prior research has suggested that narrative humanization – presenting personal stories of self-identified non-offending pedophiles – could be one route to doing this. However, this work has only been conducted with students or trainee psychotherapists, meaning the public generalizability of this method is still unknown. In this study, we tested whether narratives reduce stigma toward people with pedophilic interests more effectively than an informative alternative (scientific information about pedophilia). Using a longitudinal experimental design (initial N = 950; final N = 539), we found that narratives had consistently positive effects on all measured aspects of stigmatization (dangerousness, intentionality), whereas an informative alternative had mixed results, and actually increased perceptions of pedophiles’ levels of deviance. These effects were also still present four months after the initial presentation. We discuss these data in relation to ongoing debates about treating pedophilia as a public health issue requiring a broad societal approach to wellbeing and child abuse prevention.

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Non-offending Pedophiles

Cited by 131 publications

References 50 publications

Understanding the Needs of Individuals at Risk of Perpetrating Child Sexual Abuse: A Practitioner Perspective

Understanding the Needs of Individuals at Risk of Perpetrating Child Sexual Abuse: A Practitioner Perspective

The internalization of social stigma among minor-attracted persons: Implications for treatment

Humanizing pedophilia as stigma reduction: A large-scale intervention study

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