Exploring the Link Between Sexual Thoughts of Children and Sexual Offending Against Children

This dissertation explores the link between sexual thoughts of children and child sexual abuse perpetration. There is a growing recognition of the importance of perpetration-focused primary prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA), although few such programs exist. Rather, primary prevention of CSA efforts are primarily victim-focused universal school-based interventions. While perpetration-focused prevention efforts are primarily focused on recidivism reduction. Assessing the perspectives of people with sexual thoughts of children may help in identifying intervention targets for perpetration-focused primary prevention of CSA. This dissertation seeks to expand knowledge on the link between sexual thoughts of children and CSA perpetration through three aims: 1. Identify demographic correlates of having a sexual thought of a child and explore the circumstances in which the participant would act on their sexual thoughts of a child, what excites them about the sexual thought, and how they feel after the sexual thought (Chapter 2). 2. Assess the relationship between specific risk factors for CSA perpetration and the circumstances under which they would act on the sexual thought, and their risk of CSA perpetration (Chapter 3). 3. Identify a subgroup of people whose sexual thoughts of children are characterized as unwanted (Chapter 4). I address these aims using data from the Sexual Thoughts Project, which collected data from community-based men recruited primarily from the UK, Ireland, Italy and the US between 2005 and 2007. I show that: 1. Men with and without sexual thoughts of children did not differ on most basic demographic characteristics. However, participants who acknowledged sexual thoughts of children were more likely to also acknowledge sexual experiences with adult male sexual partners, or the complete absence of sexual activity as an adult. 2. A primary protective factor against CSA perpetration is concern for the child’s well-being. 3. A primary risk factor for CSA perpetration among people with relatively stronger sexual interest in children is the belief that children can consent to sex with adults. The findings from this study are preliminary; however, leveraging protective concern for children and addressing why children cannot consent to sex with adults may be important strategies for perpetration-focused prevention efforts