Beyond Pro- and Anti-Contact: Understanding the Ideologies of People Attracted to Children

In the past decade, there has been increased academic and social attention paid to people who are living in the community and experience sexual and/or romantic attractions to children. Most of this attention has focused on determining risk or identifying treatment needs in abuse prevention contexts. However, research into the ideologies (broadly defined as action-oriented belief systems) of people within this community is still scarce. This paper challenges the common assumption that people who are attracted to children are divisible into pro-contact and anti-contact groups on the issue of sexual interactions with children. Using one of the largest currently available online studies of individuals who are attracted to children (N = 389), a model and associated measurement tool is developed to show how ideological positioning is associated with views about the permissibility of sexual contact with children and the extent to which people experience self-acceptance. The data demonstrate how these ideological positions are linked to different self-labeling, treatment needs, and risk. This paper provides a novel framework for understanding the effects of different ideological positions for clinical practice and provide a professional assessment tool for use by therapists working with this population in treatment settings.