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Physical and Psychological Child and Adult Sex Cues and Their Association with Sexual
Age Preferences
This preprint has been accepted for publication on November 05 2023 in
The Journal of Sex Research
Robert J. B. Lehmann
a,
Thomas Schäfer
a,
Monika Fleischhauer
a
Alexander F. Schmidt
b
Till Amelung
c
a
MSB Medical School Berlin, Institute of Psychology, Berlin, Germany;
b
Institute of Psychology, Social & Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-University of
Mainz, Germany;
c
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and
HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Institut für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualmedizin, Berlin,
Germany
Corresponding author: Robert J. B. Lehmann, Robert.lehmann@medicalschool-berlin.de,
MSB Medical School Berlin, Institute of Psychology, Rüdesheimer Str. 50, 14197 Berlin,
Germany
Acknowledgment: The authors want to thank Anna Stammen, Clemendina Hügle, Katharina
Arndt, and Laura Haas who all were involved in the selection of the physical and
psychological features.
Abstract
This study combined research on human mate preferences and attraction to physical and
psychological features of children. Specifically, we used the Ideals Standards Model (ISM;
Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999) as a conceptual framework to investigate the
sexual relevance of adult and child sex cues within the general population. A sample of 589
men (mean age 30.6 years, SD = 16.6) answered questions about their sexual age preferences
as well as different child and adult sex cues. The sample showed the full gamut of sexual age
preferences (i.e., ranging from prepubescent children to adults over sixty years of age). A
principal component analysis revealed five dimensions of adult and child sex cues. Sexual
interest in children was positively related to the two dimensions of attraction to neotenous
innocence and attraction to neotenous physical appearance while being negatively related to
the factor of agency. In contrast, sexual interest in adults was indicated by the dimension of
vitality. The fifth dimension of warmth-truthfulness was neither related to sexual interest in
children nor sexual interest in adults. We argue that attraction to neotenous innocence and
attraction to neotenous physical appearance can be used as an indicator of sexual interest in
children. Moreover, we discuss how our results fit in with theoretical notions from the ISM.
Introduction
Sexual orientation is defined as “an internal mechanism” that to varying degrees
directs individuals’ “sexual and romantic disposition” toward male or female individuals
(LeVay & Baldwin, 2012, p. 623). Seto (2017) recently broadened the scope of sexual
orientation, whereby human males preferentially orient themselves to specific classes of
sexual stimuli, which are not only defined by target sex (i.e., male vs. female) but also target
age
1
or level of sexual maturity. Hence, individuals may feel sexually attracted to children
before puberty (pedophilia, ages 3 to 10) or in puberty (hebephilia, ages 11 to 14), adolescent
minors (ephebophilia, ages 15 to 17), young adults after puberty between the ages of 18 and
late 30s (teleiophilia), middle-age adults age 40 to late 50s (mesophilia), and older adults from
age 60 upwards (gerontophilia).
Sexual Attraction Cues for Teleiophilic Individuals
Seto (2017) points out, that “sexual age preference is technically not for age but for
sexual maturity stage” (p. 7). Empirically, most adult humans sexually prefer mature adults
(i.e., are teleiophilic) of the opposite sex (i.e., are heterosexual), which is directly related to
reproductive success from an evolutionary psychological perspective. Besides the genetic
quality or fitness of a preferred sexual partner, reproductive value in humans is also
determined by additional factors such as the ability to provide for offspring, or the expected
duration of reproductive capacity. However, as this quality is not directly observable, mate-
searching individuals must depend on outwardly accessible cues that are associated with
reproductive value. These include features of physical appearance and manifest behavior.
Among others, the Ideals Standards Model (ISM; Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al.,
1999) combines evolutionary theoretical and empirical perspectives to explain what people
1
As age and physical sexual maturity levels–depending on target sex and individual onset of puberty–are only
roughly positively correlated, the age ranges reported here have to be regarded as general approximations. They
do not represent strict categorical boundaries.
seek in an intimate partner. For adults of both sexes, Fletcher et al. (1999) conducted a series
of factor analyses on the importance of partner ratings (Partner Ideals Scales) and proposed a
tripartite factor structure including a) warmth-trustworthiness (e.g., sensitive, trustworthy,
honest, and affectionate), b) vitality-attractiveness (e.g., attractive, nice body, sexy, outgoing),
and c) status resources (e.g., good job, financially secure, appropriate age, successful).
In terms of warmth-trustworthiness numerous studies on mate preference showed that
being kind, honest, and understanding (Buss, 1989; Buss & Barnes, 1986; Li et al., 2011;
Lippa, 2007) are highly valued in relationships. Warmth and trustworthiness may contribute
to feeling close, protected, accepted, and safe (Valentine et al., 2019), with partners scoring
high on this factor most likely to fulfil the basic need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).
For heterosexual men, empirically verified physical cues of vitality-attractiveness
include amongst others: “length and quality of women’s hair; skin clarity and suppleness;
feminine facial features caused by in part by estrogen production such as facial adiposity, full
lips, small chin, thin jaws, and high cheekbones; a slender waist; a low waist-to-hip ratio; firm
breasts; a relatively low body mass index” (Buss & Schmitt, 2019, p. 89). Of special interest
for the study of attraction to minors, physical indicators of youthfulness in women that can be
conceptualized as neotenous correlated with reproductive value such as skin clarity and
suppleness, large eyes, and a small chin (Jones et al., 1995). Neoteny thereby refers to the
within-species retention of juvenile traits into adulthood (Andrews et al., 2017). With neoteny
being a crucial aspect of human evolution rooted in evolutionary biology (Brüne, 2000),
persistent youthful characteristics can be displayed in both the physical appearance and in
behavior. Youthful, neotenous behaviors are represented on the vitality-attractiveness factor
with characteristics such as “outgoing”, “spontaneous”, “adventurous”, or “good fun”. On a
behavioral level, empirical research showed that mate preferences of teleiophilic men
influence actual mating behavior. Here, research reports that men are seeking and selecting
younger women (Conroy-Beam & Buss, 2019; Sohn, 2017). In sum, research indicates that
from a heterosexual male perspective, female attractiveness is correlated with indicators of
youth and reproductive value (e.g., Andrews et al., 2017; Conroy-Beam & Buss, 2019). In
terms of status resources research across cultures has consistently found that women give
more weight to status and resources such as earning potential than do men (Eastwick et al.,
2014; Fletcher et al., 2019).
Sexual Attraction Cues for Individuals with Sexual Interest in Children
Different approaches exist trying to explain sexual interest in children (see Seto, 2018
for an overview). Being sexually attracted to nonfertile prepubescent children (i.e., individuals
lacking reproductive value in evolutionary psychological terms) would be biologically
maladaptive. Seeking to explain why some men are attracted by child sex cues, Quinsey and
Lalumière (1995) argued for a malfunctioning set of body shape detectors, which via
overselection of youth indicators ultimately leads to pedophilia. Specifically, they
hypothesized that “when these detectors malfunction, the youth detectors (tuned to cues
involving such things as skin smoothness and tone, lustrous hair, and sprightly gait) are left
unconstrained” (p. 309). In this regard, pedophilia might be interpreted as exaggerated
manifestations of normative and functional teleiophilic mate selection preferences (Schmidt &
Imhoff, 2021; Terry et al., 2012) - although it has to be notedthat this focus on malfunctioning
properties remains silent on the underlying causes.
Empirical research on preferred personality and physical characteristics of people with
sexual interest in children is scarce. To date, research has identified
certain personality
characteristics, such as innocence, openness, honesty, and being affectionate (Conte et al.,
1989; Houtepen et al., 2016; Li, 1991; Martijn et al., 2022; Wilson & Cox, 1983). In terms of
physical characteristics, research has indicated that generally good looks, beauty, a cute face,
and a nice body (e.g., slim statue, slim body; Conte et al., 1989; Goode, 2009; Houtepen et al.,
2016; Martijn et al., 2022; Wilson & Cox, 1983) are rated attractive by people with sexual
interest in children. In addition, smooth skin (Conte et al., 1989; Martijn et al., 2022; Wilson
& Cox, 1983) and hairlessness (Goode, 2009) seem to be preferred physical characteristics by
people with sexual interest in children. Based on the notion of exaggerated sensitivity to
normatively adequate and functional mating indicators, most of these characteristics can be
considered as indicating youth, which, to a certain degree, should be attractive to teleiophilic
men as well. Accordingly, there is some overlap between people with a sexual interest in
children and adults regarding valued characteristics such as warmth-trustworthiness and
vitality-attractiveness.
However, concerning the status resources factor such overlap should be unlikely. The
prototypical child is fully dependent on their caregivers and developmental indicators of
resource independence are rather associated with the transition to adulthood. In a study by
Martijn et al. (2022), pedophilic participants stressed the point that on an emotional and
relational level children are different from adults. Accordingly, adult-related physical and
psychological features should not be desirable from a pedophilic perspective. Also, their
pedophilic participants emphasized that they wanted to play an important role in the child’s
life, as a teacher or mentor. This would suggest that certain characteristics indicative of
successful midlife achievement and maturity (Lachman et al., 1994), such as being ambitious,
independent, and successful, should be rated unattractive for people with sexual interest in
children. Martijn et al. (2022) further argued that their findings on descriptions of
psychological features aligned with the concept of emotional congruence with children, which
refers to an increased affiliation with childhood and people ascribing childlike characteristics
to themselves (McPhail et al., 2018). Here, adult-like psychological characteristics such as
being thoughtful, reflected, dutiful, and responsible would not be in line with this concept. In
relation to physical features, adult characteristics such as pubic hair are rated unattractive by
people with sexual interest in children (Langevin et al., 1985).
Current Study
People with sexual interest in children seem to be interested in normative personality
characteristics that resemble social attributes known from people interested in adult partners
(e.g., being open and affectionate). However, some of these attributes might be more likely
encouraged or accepted in children (e.g., curiosity, liveliness, naiveté). In terms of physical
characteristics, similarities exist between sexual interest in children (especially sexual interest
in more physically mature children/adolescents below the age-threshold for sexual consent
such as in hebephilia and ephebophilia; Bailey et al., 2016) and adults (e.g., smooth skin) as
well as indicators of exaggerated manifestations of normative mate selection criteria (e.g.,
slim statue). At the same time indicators of status resources seem to be less attractive to
people with sexual interest in children. However, to date no study has investigated
gender/sex-generic characteristics preferred by people with sexual interest in children in a
sample including various sexual age preferences. Using a sample including exclusively people
with sexual interest in children might be the very reason why Martijn et al. (2022) found
relatively little differentiation across preferred physical and psychological features. Following
Martijn and colleagues, the current study sampled male participants only. This is in line with
current research (e.g., Bártová et al., 2021) showing significantly lower rates of sexual interest
in children in women compared to men. In this explorative study, we were interested in
examining whether a factorial structure resembling the ISM (Fletcher & Simpson, 2000;
Fletcher et al., 1999) would be found when considering physical and psychological child
sexual attraction cues beside adult sexual attraction cues. Furthermore, we wanted to validate
these factors using external criteria (i.e., preferred age group for sexual partners, sexual
fantasies about children). Given that similar psychological features are endorsed by people
with sexual interest in children and adults (e.g., Buss & Schmitt, 2019; Wilson & Cox, 1983),
we expected a factor including generally preferred psychological features (e.g., openness,
honesty) in intimate relationships to show similar associations with sexual interest in children
and adults. Moreover, we hypothesized the emergence of a physical child sexual attraction
cue factor showing a stronger relationship with sexual interests in children than with adult
sexual interests. Also, we expected the emergence of a factor including adult-related
psychological features (e.g., ambition, independence) showing an opposite (i.e., negative)
relationship with sexual interest in children than with adult sexual interests.
Method
Participants
Individuals aged 18 years or older were eligible to participate. After the exclusion of
participants younger than 18 years, failing seriousness checks (Aust et al., 2013; n = 9
answered to not have taken part seriously), or failing honesty checks (Sischka et al., 2020; n =
33 indicated that during the questionnaire they had answered dishonestly six times or more),
respectively, our convenience sample effectively comprised 589 male participants with a
mean age of 30.6 years (SD = 16.6, range: 18 – 80), most of whom showed high levels of
educational achievement (i.e., had completed the German Abitur [n = 221] or held a
university degree [n = 249]). The sample was recruited age-unspecific via social media (e.g.,
Reddit, Facebook, Instagram), and online platforms (e.g., Psychologie Heute, gofeminine).
However, to include people with sexual interest in children we also sampled via German
online peer support and information sites for self-identified pedophilic and hebephilic
individuals (e.g., Krumme 13, Kinder im Herzen).
Before the study commenced, all participants received information regarding the
study's subject matter, such as sexual fantasies, as well as the anticipated duration of the
study. Following that, participants were acquainted with the criteria for inclusion and
exclusion. The confidentiality of participants was guaranteed, and they were made aware that
they could terminate the survey at any point. Prior to initiating the study, participants were
required to provide informed consent. Upon completion of the study, the objectives were
clarified to the participants during a debriefing session. Ethical approval for the study was
obtained by the ethics committee of the Medical School Berlin (MSB-2021/69).
Measures
Physical Features of Sexual Attraction
Participants were asked “How important are the following characteristics of your
preferred sexual partners to you?” and rated five physical features from 1 = not important to 5
= very important. The options for physical features were partly informed by features
highlighted in past qualitative and quantitative literature (Goode, 2009; Houtepen et al., 2016;
Wilson & Cox, 1983) and included a) smooth, soft, clear skin, b) absence of pubic hair, c)
small statue, d) childlike face (cute, large eyes, small chin, small nose, etc.), and e) slim,
petite body shape.
Psychological Features of Sexual Attraction
Participants rated ten psychological features partly informed by past qualitative and
quantitative literature (Goode, 2009; Houtepen et al., 2016; Li, 1991; Wilson & Cox, 1983)
from 1 = not important to 5 = very important. The options for psychological features included
a) cheerful, b) friendly, sincere, c) open, d) spontaneous, e) honest, f) curious, g) lively, h)
naive, i) affectionate, gentle, and j) sexually inexperienced. In addition, participants rated five
adult psychological features partly informed by previous research (e.g., Martijn et al., 2022)
including a) being thoughtful, reflected, b) being successful, c) being ambitious, d) being
independent, and e) being dutiful, responsible.
Sexual Age Preferences
Participants were asked what age group they preferred in a potential sexual partner
(“What age do you prefer a potential sex partner to be?”) from 1 = not at all to 10 =
completely. Following Seto (2017), we included prepubescent children (age 10 and younger),
pubescent children (ages 11 to 14), postpubescent adolescents (ages 15 to 17), young adults
(ages 18 to late 30s), middle-aged adults (age 40 to late 50s), and older adults (age 60 and
above).
Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire
In addition, we included six items from the Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (SFQ; Gray
et al., 2003). Participants were asked to report how often they sexually fantasized about the
following binary sexual orientation targets from 0 = Have never fantasized about to 4 = Have
fantasized about very frequently, including a) men, b) women, c) pre-pubescent boys, d)
adolescent boys, e) pre-pubescent girls, and f) adolescent girls.
Results
The Dimensions of Sexual Attraction
The measure of sampling adequacy (MSA = .82) indicated high intercorrelations
among the physical and psychological sexual attraction items. To be consistent with the
approach of previous research (Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999), we first ran a
principal component analysis with oblimin rotation, which revealed a five-dimensional
structure, suggested by the scree plot, the Kaiser criterion, and the interpretability of the
solution. Because (1) the intercorrelations between the five factors were very low (rs < |.32|),
(2) the interpretability of uncorrelated factors was better, (3) orthogonal rotation is much more
parsimonious in terms of the number of parameters that have to be estimated, and (4) the
factor matrix after the orthogonal rotation and the structure matrix after the oblique rotation
were identical in terms of the allocation of the items to the five components, we decided to
base the interpretation of the components on the orthogonally rotated solution (using
Varimax), accounting for 57% of the variance. The factor loadings are shown in Table 1.
The first factor comprised items related to warmth-trustworthiness, and we dubbed
this dimension accordingly. The second factor included items indicating an enthusiastic, open,
positive personality displaying curiousness and liveliness. Following the ISM (Fletcher &
Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999) we named this factor vitality. The third factor consisted
of items indicative of attraction to neotenous physical and psychological features indicating
innocence, and in relation to the ISM we named it attraction to neotenous innocence. The
fourth factor encompassed adult psychological characteristics indicative of the ISM factor of
status and especially agency and we named it accordingly. The last factor again included
items indicating attraction to neotenous physical features, and following the ISM we called it
attraction to neotenous physical appearance.
[Please insert Table 1 here.]
Associations of the Five Sexual Attraction Dimensions with Sexual Age Preferences and
Sexual Fantasy Items
Figure 1 shows the distributions of the sexual age preferences. Regarding
prepubescent and pubescent children, most respondents indicated the lowest value (1).
Overall, young adults were most frequently rated as the most attractive. Since these
preferences are likely, of course, to depend on the age of the respondent (Antfolk, 2017),
Figure 2 shows the relationship between age and sexual age preferences. It is noticeable here
that preferences for prepubescent and pubescent children increased with age. For the other age
groups, there emerged an expected relationship between participants’ own age and their
sexual age preference.
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the sexual age preferences and the sexual
fantasy items, together with their correlations and respective confidence intervals with the five
sexual attraction dimensions. To further examine the relationships between the sexual age
preferences and the five dimensions, we also created a child-adult difference index
quantifying the magnitude of the difference between the average preference for children (i.e.,
pedophilia, hebephilia) and the average preference for adults (i.e., teleiophilia, mesophilia,
gerontophilia). For N = 36 (6.3%) individuals, this index was positive, indicating a stronger
preference for children than for adults. The scores and their correlations with the five sexual
attraction dimensions are also shown in Table 2.
[Please insert Figures 1 and 2 and Table 2 here.]
Discussion
The aim of the current study was to investigate the structure of attractiveness ratings of
adult and child sex cues in a male sample from the general population (i.e., non-forensic
sample). For this reason, our aim was to sample across all sexual age preferences. Our results
indicate some overlap with the hypothetical relative frequency distribution of sexual age
preferences among men proposed by Seto (2017; Figure 1). In contrast to Fletcher et al.
(1999), we did not find three but five dimensions explaining 57% percent of the variance.
Like Fletcher et al. (1999) we identified two dimensions indicating warmth-trustworthiness
and status. However, instead of one vitality-attractiveness dimension, the results showed a
separate dimension of vitality and two further dimensions indicating attractiveness.
Interestingly, attractiveness was separated into two dimensions depending on (mostly)
physical development indicators with one dimension indicating attraction to neotenous cues of
innocence and one dimension indicating attraction to physical cues of neoteny.
Accordingly, our first dimension aligns with the warmth-trustworthiness factor of the
ISM by Fletcher et al. (1999) including the five items a) friendly, sincere, b) affectionate,
gentle, c) honest, d) thoughtful, reflected, and e) cheerful. Warmth-trustworthiness was
neither related to sexual age preference nor sexual fantasies. This indicates this dimension
might not be important for sexual attraction ratings independent of sexual age preference. A
possible explanation could be that this factor is related to attractiveness ratings in long-term
relationships, which can be characterized by high levels of commitment, pair-bonding, and
emotional involvement (Buss & Schmitt, 2019). Specifically, psychological qualities (e.g.,
friendly, affectionate) take precedence when evaluating desirable long-term partners whereas
physical attributes hold greater significance when assessing potential short-term partners (e.g.,
Fletcher et al., 2004). The current study asked participants specifically about a preferred
sexual partner. Future studies might extend the current research by asking how important the
included characteristics are in a preferred long-term relationship. In addition, future studies
might want to include qualities such as wisdom, maturity, and experience which Seto (2017)
expected to be emphasized within mesophilic and gerontophilic individuals.
The second-dimension vitality included the four social attributes a) spontaneous, b)
curious, c) lively, and d) open, which can be associated with adults but might be more likely
to be encouraged or accepted in children (Goode, 2009). This dimension was most strongly
related to sexual interest in middle-aged adults and to a lesser degree to older adults as well as
sexual fantasies about women. In the ISM (Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999)
the vitality-attractiveness factor also included items like adventurous, outgoing, and
spontaneous, indicating the importance of these features in adult mating strategies. This
makes sense as with growing interest in middle-aged and older adults major dimensions such
as youthfulness and attractivity (at least for a sizeable number of men) might lose their
importance and other partner characteristics such as psychological vitality become more
essential. Also, psychological neoteny (Charlton, 2006, 2007), which refers to the retention of
youthful attitudes and behaviors (or a personality characterized by prolonged youthfulness)
into adulthood, might add to the explanation of this finding. In this regard, Charlton (2006)
stated that “The biggest praise that can be given to an elderly person is that they have retained
the characteristics of youth – not just a youthful appearance, but also the youthful vitality and
drive.” (p. 680).
However, that this factor was unrelated to sexual interest in children was
rather surprising, especially as research shows that people with sexual interest in children
seem to be attracted by a particular moment of uncomplicated joyousness and freedom
(Goode, 2009) before adult restraints and conformities press down. Goode (2009) argued that
the people with sexual interest in children desire the playfulness, curiosity, open-mindedness,
energy, excitement and pleasure which children are seen to embody. In our sample it seems
that this association was not that strong, and vitality was valued by men with a sexual interest
in more senior adults as well.
The third dimension included four items: a) sexually inexperienced, b) childlike face,
c) naiveté, and d) small stature and was called attraction to neotenous innocence. Of our two
dimensions associated with cues of neoteny, this dimension was comprised of both
psychological and physical features. The dimension was positively correlated with all three
sexual age preferences towards individuals below the age of 18 (i.e., <10, 11-14, and 15-18
years) and negatively correlated with all adult-related sexual age preferences (i.e., 18-39, 40-
59, and > 60 years). Similarly, the dimension showed small to moderate positive relationships
with fantasizing about prepubescent/adolescent boys and girls. Within sexual age preferences,
the correlations with pubertal and adolescent categories of sexual interest were larger than
those with sexual interest in individuals under 10 years of age. Also, correlations with sexual
interest in girls, both prepubescent and adolescent were larger than those with boys. Thus,
while attraction to the cues loading together on this dimension seemed to be correlated with a
sexual interest in children, the relevance of these cues may be differentially distributed in
different sexual age preferences like pedophilia, hebephilia, and partheno-/ephebophilia and
sexual orientation toward a specific gender. In fact, a smaller stature and more childlike face
are typical features of human females associated with perceived attractiveness (Jones et al.,
1995). Thus, a greater relevance for individuals interested in females is to be expected.
Furthermore, missing sexual experience and naiveté can be viewed as cues of nulliparity, i.e.,
absence of own children, which evolutionary psychology predicts to be indicative of
reproductive value for mate seeking males due to greater resources available for their own
future offspring (Lassek & Gaulin, 2019). Fittingly, the largest correlations were found with
sexual interests in early postpubescent individuals (age band 15-17) and adolescent females,
which can be assumed to have reached reproductive maturity. In summary, a sensitivity to
sexual behavior related cues indicating innocence might be more relevant for female than for
male oriented sexual interest in minors and even more so for the interest in early
postpubescent individuals. In line with the hypothesis that an increased sensitivity to cues of
neoteny might lie at the core of sexual interests in minors, our marker for differential interest
in adults vs. children showed the largest correlation with this dimension, too, indicating its
relevance for these specific interests. As a caveat, it must be noted that these differences in the
magnitude of the correlations were small and might also have emanated from differential
variance restrictions in the subsamples.
Additionally, we found a dimension including four items indicating attraction to adult
personality characteristics: a) successful, b) ambitious, c) independent, and d) dutiful,
responsible. We called the dimension agency as agency can be defined as an individual’s
ability to pursue goals and to exert control over their life (Cavazzoni et al., 2022). This
dimension was negatively related to child-related sexual preference with the largest negative
correlations with sexual interest in individuals under ten years of age as well as prepubertal
boys and girls. On the other hand, agency was positively related to preferences for younger
adults. This indicates that features of mid-life achievement (e.g., social status and resources)
like ambition or independence are not valued by people with sexual interest in children, but
people interested in potential sexual partners between the age of 18 and late 30s. We would
hypothesize that this dimension is loosely related to the status-resources factor of the ISM
(Fletcher et al., 1999), which includes items such as having a good job, being financially
secure, or successful.
The fifth dimension was called attraction to neotenous physical appearance and
included three items pertaining to physical features of neoteny, namely a) no pubic hair, b)
smooth, soft, clear skin, and c) slim, petite body shape. In this it differed slightly from the first
attraction to neotenous innocence dimension that included both physical and psychological
features associated with innocence and youthfulness. Like the attraction to neotenous
innocence dimension, attraction to neotenous physical appearance was positively correlated
with all three minor-related sexual preferences as well as with fantasizing about
prepubescent/adolescent boys and girls, albeit to a lesser degree. Within the categories of
sexual interest in ages < 18, the correlation coefficients showed the inverse pattern compared
to the dimension attraction to neotenous innocence. For example, within the four minor
categories of the Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire, the 95%-CI of coefficient of the category of
adolescent girls was the only one to comprise zero. Features loading on this factor thus
seemed to be slightly more relevant for sexual interest in boys and prepubertal girls.
Additionally, this factor was negatively correlated with all adult-related sexual preferences.
Compared to attraction to neotenous innocence, the item “no pubic hair” is inherently
indicative of lack of any pubertal development, which could explain the slightly greater
relevance for attraction to prepubertal developmental stages and ages below ten years of age.
On the other hand, smooth, soft, clear skin and small stature are neotenous features present in
young adult women, too. Small stature accordingly loaded similarly on both factors
comprising neotenous cues. Interestingly, research shows that pubic hair removal in women
is, for example, significantly associated with younger age and a greater interest in sex (Craig
& Gray, 2019; Herbenick et al., 2013). Here, future studies might differentiate between a
physical lack of pubic hair versus pubic hair removal.
In the current study, the attraction to both physical and psychological neotenous
features were positively correlated with sexual interest in younger individuals including
prepubertal and pubertal children within in male participants. This is in line with both expert
opinion (Freund, 1967a, 1967b; Langevin et al., 1985) and previous research (Martijn et al.,
2022; Wilson & Cox, 1983) stressing the importance of youthfulness cues in sexual interest in
children. As such, an increased responsiveness to cues of youthfulness might serve as a basis
for a deeper understanding of the etiological basis of pedohebephilia. For example, research
on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying pedophilia identified specific brain processes
associated with visual cues of neoteny even when viewing non-human stimuli (Ponseti et al.,
2018). Relatedly, females’ decreased sensitivity to neotenous cues for mate selection (i.e.,
heterosexual women usually prefer slightly older mating partners and thus focus on other
sexual selection cues; Conroy-Beam & Buss, 2019; non-heterosexual women do not differ
from heterosexual women in their mating age preferences; Klümper et al., 2023) remarkably
corresponds with their substantially lower likelihood to report sexual interest in children (e.g.,
Bártová et al., 2021).
Furthermore, both factors could be useful as a self-report indicator of increased
sensitivity to child sexual cues which according to our findings could be conceived of as a
sensitive (but not necessarily specific) proxy for sexual interest in children. Accordingly, to
further validate the scale future research should investigate its convergent validity with other
indicators of pedophilic sexual interest, such as pedohebephilia-related sexual offending
behavior (Lehmann et al., 2018), indirect latency-based measures (Schmidt et al., 2017), and
psychophysiological measures (McPhail et al., 2017).
Surprisingly, attraction to neotenous features was uncorrelated with sexual interest in
younger adults. This finding is in contrast with other research that identified such features as
cross-culturally important for attractiveness ratings of adult females (Jones et al., 1995). We
can only speculate about the reasons for the absence of this correlation. A lack of
differentiation of hetero- and homosexual adults as a potential reason seems unlikely given
that sexual fantasies with women were uncorrelated with either dimension representing
neoteny. Social desirability might have had an influence (e.g., Paulhus, 2017) such that in a
questionnaire assessing sexual interest in tabooed age categories, participants may be more
restrictive in acknowledging attraction to features associated with youthfulness. Although in
the current study we followed Seto (2017) in his operationalisation of sexual age interest (e.g.,
young adults ages 18 to late 30s), it is important to note that such age bands are approximate
as people vary greatly in the age of onset of puberty and rate of sexual maturation.
Importantly, the age band for young adults ranging from 18 to 39 years may be too broad
given physical changes occurring during this developmental period. Evolutionary psychology
suggests neotenous features to be indicative of the greatest reproductive value of females and
associated with early postpubertal stages. The age band of 18 to 39 years clearly includes
developmental stages that are better conceptualized as late postpubertal up to even late
intervals within the reproductive phase of women and may thus have blurred these expected
correlations.
The only other dimension showing a distinct pattern of correlations with sexual age
preference was agency. Specifically, a positive association was found between the dimension
agency and teleiophilia suggesting that features of being thoughtful, successful, ambitious,
independent, and responsible are relevant for being perceived as attractive in young
adulthood. In contrast, sexual interest in prepubescent children, pubescent children, and
postpubescent adolescents was negatively associated with these features. The fact that these
values are rather undesired in individuals with a sexual preference for children might point to
a specific motivation in those individuals. Interestingly, qualitative analyses by Martijn et al.
(2022) showed that child-attracted persons have a desire to fill a role of importance in the life
of a potential romantic partner (i.e., child), as a teacher or mentor. Qualitative interviews
conducted by Sullivan and Sheehan (2016) with 63 men convicted for sexual offending
revealed that, in addition to sexual interest in children, the desire for power and control as
well as personal affirmation were relevant motivational factors for their behavior. These
motivations, however, would oppose the features of agency, which in turn could explain the
negative correlation between the agency dimension and sexual interest in children. Finally,
the two factors of warmth-trustworthiness and agency seem to align well with research on the
ISM (Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999) and include psychological features
universally rated as important in a potential (romantic) partner independent of age.
Limitations and Future Directions
First of all, our markers of neoteny could have been more systematic. For example, the
present mix of psychological, ontogenetic, and physical indicators lacked physical markers of
sexual maturity that should be included in future studies. Moreover, within our study, we
followed the Partner Ideals Scales by Fletcher et al. (1999), withoutassessing all importance
ratings of partner ideals included in their study; instead we focused in particular on those
attributes that could also be relevant for people with a sexual interest in children, since we
were particularly interested in the connection between desired attributes and lower partner age
preferences in our study. These differences, of course, potentially limit the comparability of
our findings with the ISM of Fletcher et al. (1999, 2000). Nevertheless, commonalities
emerged, in that we were able to show that especially attributes such as friendly, sincere,
gentle, honest and cheerful being subsumed under the factor warmth-trustworthiness seem to
be desired independently of the age preference of the sexual partner. Considering all items of
the Ideal Partner Scales by Fletcher et al. (1999) in addition to child-specific cues would have
allowed for the examination of the irrelevance or undesirability of actual status attributes
(such as good job) or adult-related attractiveness attributes (such as good lover) for
individuals with a sexual interest in children. However, in our study, we were only able to
approach this aspect of discriminant validity to the extent that we could demonstrate that
individuals with a sexual interest in children tend to reject agency-related attributes (such as
independent, successful) and exhibit an interest in child-specific body cues (such as child-like
face, small stature).
Even though various trait dimensions (physical and psychological traits) have already
been included in prior research, it would be interesting for future research to also examine, for
example, traits that could support the assumption that people who are sexually attracted to
children wish their preferred sexual partners to be dependent on them in some way e.g., in
terms of desired help and support. Conceivable attributes would be, for example, preferences
for partners to be submissive, dependent, helpless, seeking advice. In this context, it would
also be interesting for future research to obtain not only an assessment of the attributes one
values in the preferred sexual partner (which are hinting to the functional
relationship/intimacy needs which individuals are seeking in a partner), but also a self-report
of how well these attributes apply to oneself to find out to what extent similarity or
dissimilarity is related to sexual preference (as, for example, implied by research linking
interest in sexually soliciting minors online to social anxiety; Schulz et al., 2017). At least
findings on the link between sexual interest in children and emotional congruence in children
are concomitant with this notion (McPhail et al., 2018).
Furthermore, the use of psychological attributes (e.g., friendly, openness) that can be
seen as globally relevant for the attractiveness of sexual partners might have attenuated the
reported associations. Evidence for this assumption is corroborated by our correlation pattern
regarding the physical cues. Accordingly, correlations between sexual interest in children and
the dimension attraction to neotenous innocence comprising both psychological and physical
features were of moderate size and this factor differentiated well between sexual age
preferences, whereas for the fifth dimension (attraction to neotenous appearance) only small
correlations and less differentiation were observed. Thus, as mentioned above, psychological
attributes that relate more to the underlying motivation for sexual interest in children (e.g.,
dependent, helpless) may have the potential to better differentiate between sexual age
preferences and to elucidate what differentiates romantic and intimate affiliation with children
from adults. Given the large body of research on gender differences in mating strategies (e.g.,
Buss & Schmitt, 2019) as well as the higher prevalence of sexual interest in children in men
(e.g., Bártová et al., 2021) the current study only included men. However, future studies might
want to discuss the possibility of gender effects in more detail.
Finally, the different recruiting strategies for individuals with and without
pedohebephilic sexual interests may pose a limit to the generalization of our findings. It might
be the case that for participants sampled from legal online forums for people who self-identify
as pedophilic or hebephilic discussing the features they find attractive about their preferred
partners is psychologically more important than for participants recruited via general non-
topical sites (e.g., Reddit). This may have biased our data. Furthermore, these platforms can
be expected to differ concerning the distributions of age of their users. While users of many
stages of life might be drawn to self-help forums for individuals with special sexual interests,
users of social media and especially platforms such as reddit or facebook are typically more of
homogenous and younger age. The established association might thus be merely an artifact of
our recruiting strategy. Hence, our preliminary findings reported here are certainly in need of
further corroboration and exploration in future research.
The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
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Table 1. Factor loadings (> .40; PCA with Varimax rotation) of the 20 sexual attraction items,
and descriptive statistics for the five dimensions in the current sample
Sexual cues WT VI NI AG NA
friendly, sincere .79
affectionate, gentle .74
honest .57
thoughtful, reflected .54 .44
cheerful .52
spontaneous .75
curious .74
lively .68
open .63
sexually inexperienced .76
childlike face (cute, large
eyes, small chin, small
nose)
.72
naive .70
small stature .61
ambitious .78
successful .78
dutiful, responsible .50 .62
independent .47
no pubic hair .74
smooth, soft, clear skin .71
slim, petite body shape .45 .45
M 3.9 3.9 2.6 3.1 3.8
SD 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.7
Cronbach’s Alpha .74 .74 .70 .72 .55
Note. WT: warmth-trustworthiness, VI: vitality, NI: attraction to neotenous innocence, AG:
agency, YC: attraction to neotenous appearance
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the sexual age preferences and the sexual fantasies and their correlations with the five sexual attraction dimensions
M SD WT VI NI AG NA
Sexual age
preference (1-10)
≤ 10 years 1.52 1.90 -.02 -.04 .32 -.15 .18
[-.11, .06] [-.12, .04] [.25, .39] [-.23, -.07] [.10, .26]
11-14 years 1.73 1.98 -.06 -.02 .42 -.14 .13
[-.14, .03] [-.10, .06] [.35, .48] [-.22, -.06] [.05, .21]
15-17 years 3.20 2.69 -.06 -.00 .42 -.07 .16
[-.14, .02] [-.09, .08] [.35, .48] [-.15, .01] [.08, .24]
18-39 years 9.13 1.89 .06 .02 -.07 .16 -.17
[-.02, .14] [-.07, .10] [-.15, .01] [.08, .24] [-.20, -.04]
40-59 years 4.83 2.80 -.04 .15 -.18 -.05 -.17
[-.12, .05] [.07, .23] [-.26, -.10] [-.13, .03] [-.20, -.03]
≥ 60 years 2.29 2.27 -.06 .08 -.05 -.07 -.06
[-.14, .02] [.00, .16] [-.13, .03] [-.15, .02] [-.14, .02]
Child-Adult-
Difference Score
-3.8 0.11 -.08
[-.16, .01]
-.09
[-.17, -.01]
.37
[.30, .44]
-.12
[-.20, -.04]
.30
[.23, .38]
SFQ Sexual fantasies
about (1-5)
Men 2.17 1.24 .02 .07 .03 .00 -.08
[-.06, .10] [-.01, .15] [-.06, .11] [-.08, .08] [-.16, -.00]
Women 4.61 0.81 -.01 .13 -.01 .05 .06
[-.09, .08] [.05, .21] [-.09, .07] [-.03, .13] [-.02, .14]
Prepubescent boys 1.20 0.76 -.01 -.02 .23 -.10 .16
[-.09, .07] [-.11, .06] [.15, .30] [-.18, -.02] [.08, .23]
Adolescent boys 1.32 0.82 -.04 -.06 .25 -.04 .11
[-.12, .04] [-.14, .03] [.18, .33] [-.12, .04] [.03, .19]
Prepubescent girls 1.33 0.88 -.04 .04 .33 -.12 .13
[-.12, .04] [-.04, .12] [.25, .39] [-.20, -.04] [.05, .21]
M SD WT VI NI AG NA
Adolescent girls 2.28 1.23 -.04 .02 .37 -.10 .08
[-.12, .04] [-.06, .10] [.30, .44] [-.18, -.02] [.00, .16]
Note: SFQ: Sexual Fantasies Questionnaire, WT: warmth-trustworthiness, VI: vitality, NI: attraction to neotenous innocence, AG: agency, NA:
attraction to neotenous appearance. Correlations are Pearson correlation coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (bold coefficients
conventionally statistically significant at p < .05.)
Figure 1: Likert plot showing the distributions of participants’ sexual age preferences on a scale
ranging from 1 = not at all to 10 = completely
Figure 2: Scatterplots and loess regression lines (with 95% CI) showing the relationship between age
and sexual age preferences
