Pedophilia, Sexual Orientation, and Birth Order

Abstract

This study extended research on birth order and erotic preferences by examining birth order in a sample of pedophiles. Charts of 338 pedophiles, assessed from 1980–1994 in the Behavioural Sexology Department of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, were reviewed for family–demographic information. In total, 170 (57 heterosexual pedophiles, 68 homosexual pedophiles, and 45 bisexual pedophiles) of these men had sufficient sibling information to be included in the analyses. The results indicated that homosexual–bisexual pedophiles had a later birth order than heterosexual pedophiles and that this effect was primarily the result of the homosexual–bisexual group being born later among their brothers. The results extend previous findings that homosexual men, regardless of sample composition, have a later birth order than comparable groups of heterosexual men. The results also challenge some existing theories on the nature and origins of pedophilia.

Full text

Journal
of
Abnormal
Psycbolog
1997,
Vol.
106.
No. 2,
331-33i
Copyright
1997
by
the
American
Psychological
Association,
Inc.
0021-S43X/97/$3.00
SHORT
REPORTS
Pedophilia,
Sexual
Orientation,
and
Birth
Order
Anthony
F.
Bogaert,
Scott
Bezeau,
Michael
Kuban,
and Ray
Blanchard
Clarke
Institute
of
Psychiatry
This study extended research
on
birth order
and
erotic
preferences
by
examining birth order
in a
sample
of
pedophiles. Charts
of 338
pedophiles,
assessed
from
1980-1994
in the
Behavioural
Sexology Department
of the
Clarke Institute
of
Psychiatry
in
Toronto, were reviewed
for
family-
demographic
information.
In
total,
170 (57
heterosexual pedophiles,
68
homosexual pedophiles,
and
45
bisexual pedophiles)
of
these
men had
sufficient
sibling
information
to be
included
in the
analyses.
The
results indicated that homosexual-bisexual pedophiles
had a
later birth order than heterosexual
pedophiles
and
that this
effect
was
primarily
the
result
of the
homosexual-bisexual
group being
born later among their brothers.
The
results extend previous
findings
that homosexual
men,
regardless
of
sample composition, have
a
later birth order than
comparable
groups
of
heterosexual
men.
The
results
also challenge some existing
theories
on the
nature
and
origins
of
pedophilia.
Like
men
with adult-age sexual preferences,
pedophilic
men
can
have strong inclinations
for
males, females,
or,
sometimes,
both sexes.
Epidemiological
data
(e.g.,
Freund, Heasman,
Ra-
cansky,
&
Glancy, 1984; Freund, Watson,
&
Rienzo, 1987;
Gebhard,
Gagnon,
Pomeroy,
&
Christenson,
1965;
Mohr,
Turner,
&
Jerry,
1964)
indicate that
the
proportion
of
pedophiles
who
offend
against
female
versus
male children
is
approximately
2:1.
Freund
and
Watson
(1992)
have estimated, however, that
this ratio
is
distorted
and
perhaps should
be as
high
as
11:1,
partly because homosexual
and
bisexual pedophiles
are
more
likely
to
have
a
greater number
of
offenses
than heterosexual
pedophiles
and
thus
are
more likely
to get
caught
(Abel,
Becker,
Cunningham-Rathner,
Mittelman,
&
Rouleau, 1988; Abel
et
al.,
1987).
Even
with
a
recalculated value,
the
ratio
of
heterosexual
to
homosexual pedophiles
is
smaller
than
the
ratio
of
heterosexual
to
homosexual
men
with adult-age erotic partner preferences.
Estimates
can
vary,
but
recent
epidemiological
research suggests
that, among
men
with adult-age preferences,
the
ratio
of
gyne-
philes (men
who
prefer physically mature female sexual part-
ners)
to
androphiles (men
who
prefer
physically mature male
sexual
partners)
is
approximately 20:1
(e.g.,
Billy,
Tanfer,
Grady,
&
Klepinger,
1993).
These
epidemiological
data have
Anthony
F.
Bogaert, Scott Bezeau, Michael Kuban,
and Ray
Blanch-
ard, Department
of
Behavioural Sexology, Clarke Institute
of
Psychiatry,
Toronto,
Ontario, Canada.
This research
was
supported
by
Social Sciences
and
Humanities
Re-
search Council
of
Canada
Grant
410-95-0003
and by the
Correctional
Services
of
Canada.
We
thank
Parnian
Pajouhandeh
for her
help
with
data entry
and
Carolyn
L.
Hafer
for
comments
on an
earlier version
of
this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should
be
addressed
to An-
thony
F.
Bogaert,
who is now at
Department
of
Psychology, Brock
University,
St.
Catharines, Ontario, Canada
L2S
3A1.
Electronic mail
may
be
sent
via
Internet
to
tbogaert@spartan.ac.brocku.ca.
led
at
least
one
authority
to
argue that homosexual pedophilia
and
heterosexual
pedophilia
are
more related
to one
another
than
they
are to
androphilia
and
gynephilia
and
that pedophilia
is
not
merely
an
extreme
youth
preference superimposed
on a
(preexisting) homosexual
or
heterosexual sexual
orientation
(see
Freund,
1994).
Two
other research
findings
suggest
a
discontinuity between
pedophilia
and
mature-age sexual orientations.
First,
homosex-
ual
pedophiles
do not
report cross-gender
sex
role
behavior
in
childhood
and
adolescence
(e.g.,
Freund
&
Blanchard,
1987),
as
androphilic
men
often
do
(e.g., Bailey
&
Zucker,
1995).
Second, using
phallometrics,
Freund
and his
colleagues
(Freund
&
Kuban,
1993; Freund, Watson, Dickey,
&
Rienzo,
1991) demonstrated that heterosexual, bisexual,
and
homosex-
ual
pedophiles show less
"erotic
gender differentiation"
than
gynephiles
and
androphiles. Erotic gender differentiation refers
to '
'the
difference
between
the
degree
of
sexual arousal effected
by
the
body shapes
of
both males
and
females
of an
individual's
erotically most preferred
age
bracket"
(Freund
&
Kuban, 1993,
p.
620).
One of the
best established differences between androphiles
and
gynephiles
is in
average birth order.
Ten
studies,
with
sam-
ples
from
different
countries,
different
time periods,
and
differ-
ent
groups
(i.e.,
clinical
and
nonclinical),
have established that
androphilic
men
have,
on
average,
a
later birth
order
than
popu-
lation norms
or
comparable groups
of
gynephilic
men
(Blanch-
ard
&
Bogaert, 1996a,
1996b,
in
press; Blanchard
&
Sheridan,
1992; Blanchard
&
Zucker, 1994; Blanchard,
Zucker,
Bradley,
&
Hume,
1995; Blanchard, Zucker,
Cohen-Kettenis,
Gooren,
&
Bailey, 1996; Hare
&
Moran, 1979; Slater, 1962; Zucker
&
Blanchard,
1994).
Recently, this birth order
difference
has
been
demonstrated
to be
primarily
the
result
of
androphiles, relative
to
gynephiles, being born later among their brothers
(Blanchard
&
Bogaert,
1996a,
1996b,
in
press).
The
present study extended
research
on
birth
order
and
erotic
preferences
by
examining birth order
in a
sample
of
pedophiles.
331
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.