Beyond pro- and anti-contact: understanding the ideologies of people attracted to children

Lievesley, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4957-258X, Harper, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3172-0129, Awan, A and Bishop, A, 2025. Beyond pro- and anti-contact: understanding the ideologies of people attracted to children. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 51 (6), pp. 588-611. ISSN 0092-623X

Preview

Text 2447981_a3350_Harper.pdf - Published version Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

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. In this paper, we challenge 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), we develop a model and associated measurement tool showing how ideological positioning is associated with views about the permissibility of sexual contact with children and the extent to which people experience self-acceptance. We further show how these ideological positions are linked to different self-labeling, treatment needs, and risk. We close the paper by providing 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.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy
Creators:	Lievesley, R., Harper, C., Awan, A. and Bishop, A.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Date:	2025
Volume:	51
Number:	6
ISSN:	0092-623X
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/0092623X.2025.2522664 DOI 2447981 Other
Rights:	© 2025 the author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	04 Jun 2025 10:32
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2026 14:58
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53690

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads