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Citation |
Mitchell IJ, Keylock H, Campbell N, Beech AR, Kogan D. Psychiatry Psychol. Law. 2012; 19(2): 282-294. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2012, Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
Child molesters are frequently uncomfortable in adult company but show high emotional congruence with children. It was hypothesized that these emotional problems may be mirrored by physical intimacy problems such that child molesters would show exaggerated disgust reactions to the thought of coming into physical contact with adults, but not children. It was demonstrated that the discomfort shown by both offenders and non-offenders at the prospect of coming into contact with the bodily fluids of another person increases in relation to the age of the person that the bodily fluid came from. Furthermore, child molesters, in comparison to non-offenders and violent offenders, showed excessive concern at the thought of being touched on the lips or tongue with a re-sterilized surgical swab. These exaggerated anxieties combined withthe implicit belief that children are less contaminating than adults could add to the drive for child molesters to seek physical intimacy with children. |