Research

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These pages present a collection of scientific research and other demonstrative references on matters relevant to minor sexuality. Other sources for reading, development or general use can be found here.

In relation to the child

Harm to and abuse of children: Prevalence and correlates...

• Research: Association or Causation: Is the association between adult mental health and child sexual abuse causative?
• Research: Prevalence of Harm and Negative Outcomes: How often is the minor/child harmed? What correlates with this harm?
• Research: Secondary Harm: Does social interpretation of adult-minor sex, and therapy create or compound the harm attributed to it?
• Research: Family Environment: Do family factors associated with 'CSA' inflate the negative effects reported in most studies of it?
• Research: Profiling the Child Victim: Do children who have been sexually involved express a typical set of symptoms?
• Research: The internet, minors and "online victimisation": Are these common fears supported by sound literature?

Widely held beliefs about children and sexuality...

• Research: Sexual Repression: Can sexual neglect and desexualization cause harm?
• Research: Childhood Sexual Innocence: Is the cultural hypothesis of innate sexual "innocence" supported by the literature?
• Research: Cognitive Ability Research: At what age do young people develop certain abilities, qualities, and is there a "peak"?
• Research: Youthful Sexual Behaviour: Where research has been carried out into so-called "sex play", what are the outcomes?

In relation to the child's older partner (or abuser)

Statistics...

• Research: Who offends and how often?: Are fears about "stranger danger", invisible sources of harm and widespread offending and victimization justified?
• Research: Recidivism: When compared to other criminal categories, how often do child sex offenders reoffend?

Clinical theories of the "child molester"...

• Research: Abused-Abuser: Is the idea that "abused" children go on to perpetrate empirically sound?
• Research: Immaturity: Are the adult partners retarded or lacking in intelligence?
• Research: Pedophiles in the Criminal Population: How often do child sex offenders have a pedophilic preference?

In relation to minor-attraction

Crimes suggesting an attraction to minors...

• Research: Child Pornography: What is the nature of child pornography, and the effect of its use?

Clinical theories of minor-attracted people...

• Research: Cognitive Distortion: Is the evidence for a significant degree of distortion in the beliefs of pedophiles sound?
• Research: Psychopathy and abnormal Psychology: Are pedophiles or ephebophiles suffering from a mental disorder/s?
• Research: Pedophilia as a sexual/erotic orientation: Does paedophilia constitute an orientation?

Prevalence and cure...

• Research: Prevalence: How common is pedophilia? How many pedophiles "act out"?
• Research: A "cure" for pedophilia?: To what extent is pedophilia a choice? Can it be "cured"?

Anthropological and zoological perspectives

What the historical, anthropological and animal data tells us...

• Research: Intergenerational Sexual Behaviors in Animals: Does sex between juveniles and adults occur in other species?
• Research: Intergenerational Relationships in History: Is adult-child sex culturally and historically ubiquitous?
• Research: Nonwestern Intergenerational Relationships: How do tribal societies conceptualise their relationships?