Hebephilia refers to an adult's sexual preference for
pubescentPuberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads . In response, the gonads produce a variety of hormones that stimulate the growth, function, or transformation of...
youths; the term was introduced by Glueck (1955). It differs from
ephebophiliaEphebophilia is a term originally used in the late 19th to mid 20th century for a chronophilia in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19, and recently revived by Ray Blanchard...
, which refers to the sexual preference for individuals in older
adolescenceAdolescence Adolescence Adolescence (lat adolescere, (to grow) is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. This transition involves biological (i.e. pubertal), social, and psychological changes, though the biological or...
, and from
pedophiliaThe term pedophilia has a range of definitions as found in psychiatry, psychology, law enforcement, and the vernacular. As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children...
, which refers to the sexual preference for prepubescent children. While individuals with a sexual preference for adults (i.e.,
teleiophiles) may have some sexual interest in pubescent-aged individuals, the term hebephilia is reserved for those who
prefer pubescent-aged individuals over adults.
Etiology
As with sexual preference in general, it is not known what causes someone to be sexually interested in pubescent children rather than in adults.
A team of
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
sexologistsSexology is the scientific study of sexual interests, behavior, and function. In modern sexology, researchers apply tools from several academic fields, including biology, medicine, psychology, statistics, epidemiology, sociology, anthropology, and criminology. It studies sexual development and the...
has published a series of research articles comparing biologically relevant characteristics of clinical samples of
pedophilesThe term pedophilia has a range of definitions as found in psychiatry, psychology, law enforcement, and the vernacular. As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children...
, hebephiles, and teleiophiles (individuals with a sexual preference for adults). In such samples, hebephilic men are midway between pedophilic men and teleiophilic men on average
IQAn intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The term "IQ", from the German Intelligenz-Quotient, was coined by the German psychologist William Stern in 1912 as a proposed method of scoring early modern...
(with pedophiles scoring the lowest), memory test scores (with pedophiles scoring the lowest), rates of non-right-handedness, rates of school grade failures over and above the IQ differences (with pedophiles having the most frequent grade failures), rates of having suffered head injuries in childhood (with pedophiles having the highest rates of injuries), and physical height.
Prevalence of hebephilia versus pedophilia
There are clinical and correctional samples of sexual offenders in which hebephilic men outnumber the pedophilic men. Moreover, anonymous surveys of people sexually interested in children more frequently report an erotic interest in pubescent children than in prepubescent children.
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