Background

Despite debates on what should constitute sexual interest in children in terms of definition and diagnostic criteria and its strong association with individuals who commit sexual offences against children, research in this area has shown that sexual interest in children is also commonly seen in the general population. Studies in this field have investigated its prevalence and its correlates. However, most research on this topic has focused on men and most particularly sex offender populations. When investigating the general population, again the vast majority of studies used male samples and students.

Objective

This systematic review aimed to critically evaluate previous research on the prevalence of sexual interest in children across populations and to examine its correlates.

Methods

A search of relevant databases was conducted as well as a hand search of selected journals to identify eligible papers. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria had their data extracted and were assessed for risk of bias, with a second rater to establish inter-rater reliability.

Results

A total of 30 studies were reviewed and results indicated a mean prevalence rate of sexual interest in children between 2 %–24 %. Findings also indicated correlates such as the presence of mental health problems and adverse childhood experiences. Most studies showed poor external validity, with the majority of them scoring high on risk of bias.

Conclusion

Overall, the findings indicate inconsistencies in terms of methodology and definition/diagnostic criteria of sexual interest in children. Further research in this area using recommended methodology to avoid biases is recommended.

中文翻译：

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对儿童有性兴趣的个体的患病率和相关性：系统评价

背景

尽管就定义和诊断标准以及其与对儿童实施性犯罪的个人的强烈关联而言，儿童的性兴趣应该由什么构成存在争论，但该领域的研究表明，对儿童的性兴趣在一般人群中也很常见。该领域的研究调查了其流行程度及其相关性。然而，关于这个主题的大多数研究都集中在男性，尤其是性犯罪者群体上。在调查一般人群时，绝大多数研究再次使用男性样本和学生。

客观的

本系统评价旨在批判性地评估先前关于不同人群儿童性兴趣流行的研究，并检查其相关性。

方法

对相关数据库进行了搜索，并对选定的期刊进行了手动搜索，以确定符合条件的论文。符合纳入标准的研究会提取数据并评估偏倚风险，并由第二位评估者确定评估者间的可靠性。

结果

总共审查了 30 项研究，结果表明儿童性兴趣的平均流行率为 2%–24%。调查结果还表明存在心理健康问题和不良童年经历等相关因素。大多数研究显示出较差的外部效度，其中大多数在偏倚风险方面得分很高。

结论

总体而言，调查结果表明在方法论和儿童性兴趣的定义/诊断标准方面存在不一致。建议使用推荐的方法在该领域进行进一步研究，以避免偏见。