The Internalization of Social Stigma Among Minor-Attracted Persons: Implications for Treatment

Abstract

In this article, 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 well-being) 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 selfidentified MAPs (N = 183) from prominent online support fora. We found that increased levels of suppression and lower levels of psychological well-being 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 predict higher rates of actively avoiding children, even after controlling for psychological well-being and other emotional variables. Independently, lower levels of self-reported psychological wellbeing were 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 well-being, and encouraging help-seeking behavior.

Media Coverage of Pedophilia: Benefits and Risks from Healthcare Practitioners’ Point of View

“…Furthermore, our results suggest various negative influences of the media coverage especially on those people with pedophilic interests who are seeking therapeutic help. This corresponds with other quantitative and qualitative studies that indicated a negative effect of public stigma on people with pedophilic interests [ 26 , 29 , 30 ], while adding important observations on how the media reporting in particular may add to this stigma. With regards to the influence of media stigmatization on the barrier to self-referring to treatment, our study provides further valuable insights.…”

“…This kind of prevention framing may not reflect the actual needs of many non-offending people with pedophilia. According to recent studies [ 29 ], many people with pedophilic disorder are primarily looking for help to learn how to deal with psychosocial problems and psychological distress and not because they see themselves at risk of committing child sexual abuse offenses. An additional or alternative framing, which focuses on the psychological needs of the affected persons and not on child sexual abuse prevention, could inform non-offending people with pedophilia about therapeutic approaches that better suit their mental health goals.…”

“…For instance, in a large-scale survey in Germany [ 9 ], 14% and 38% of the respondents stated that non-offending people with pedophilic interests should rather be dead or incarcerated, respectively, even if they have never committed a sexual offense. These attitudes towards people with pedophilia are likely to create or exacerbate stress, anxiety, and social isolation [ 28 , 29 ]. Although the stigma attached to pedophilia may be motivated by good intentions (e.g., the desire to protect children), there is also a growing awareness among sexologists and forensic practitioners that public stigma might increase the risk of sexual offenses against children—e.g., by impairing the mental health of persons with pedophilia, or discouraging persons with pedophilia who are at risk for sexual offending from seeking help [ 5 , 26 , 29 , 30 ].…”

“…These attitudes towards people with pedophilia are likely to create or exacerbate stress, anxiety, and social isolation [ 28 , 29 ]. Although the stigma attached to pedophilia may be motivated by good intentions (e.g., the desire to protect children), there is also a growing awareness among sexologists and forensic practitioners that public stigma might increase the risk of sexual offenses against children—e.g., by impairing the mental health of persons with pedophilia, or discouraging persons with pedophilia who are at risk for sexual offending from seeking help [ 5 , 26 , 29 , 30 ]. Thereby, media coverage which conflates pedophilia and child sexual offending perpetuates the existing public stigma, i.e., [ 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”

Applying desistance principles to improve wellbeing and prevent child sexual abuse among minor-attracted persons

“…Individuals who have a sexual attraction to minors face vast amounts of social stigma (Jahnke et al, 2015a) and experience stress and mental ill health as a result of this (Jahnke et al, 2015b;Lievesley et al, 2020). These issues can have profound effects on MAPs' willingness and ability to seek support for their sexual interests (Grady et al, 2018;Levenson & Grady, 2019;Levenson et al, 2017), which reduces the potential reach and impact of schemes designed to prevent the incidence of child sexual abuse.…”