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Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment
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Physical Height in Pedophilic and Hebephilic Sexual Offenders

James M. Cantor

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada, james_cantor{at}camh.net

Michael E. Kuban

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada,

Thomas Blak

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada

Philip E. Klassen

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Robert Dickey

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Ray Blanchard

Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Adult men's height reflects, not only their genetic endowment, but also the conditions that were present during their development in utero and in childhood. We compared the adult heights of men who committed one or more sexual offenses and who were erotically interested in prepubescent children (pedophilic sexual offenders; n=223), those who were erotically interested in pubescent children (hebephilic sexual offenders; n=615), and those who were erotically interested in adults (teleiophilic sexual offenders; n=187), as well as men who had no known sexual offenses and who were erotically interested in adults (teleiophilic nonoffender controls; n=156). The pedophilic and the hebephilic sexual offenders were significantly shorter than the teleiophilic nonoffender controls. The teleiophilic sexual offenders were intermediate in height between the nonoffenders and the pedophilic and hebephilic sexual offenders and not significantly different from any of the other groups. This suggests that—regardless of whatever psychological sequelae might also have followed from the conditions present during early development—pedophilic and hebephilic sexual offenders were subject to conditions capable of affecting their physiological development.

Key Words: Anthropometry • Height • Morphometry • Pedophilia • Sexual abuse • Sex offenders • Phallometry

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Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol. 19, No. 4, 395-407 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/107906320701900405
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