Psychology of Crime

Michael Seto is a psychologist and researcher who has spent over three decades advancing our understanding of how to assess and treat individuals who have sexually abused children. Pedophilia is highly stigmatized: even when presented with an individual who has not sexually offended against a child, people express strong feelings of anger and disgust. From a child protection standpoint, this is a challenge because positive social support is an important part of reducing sexual offending.

‍

One way people attracted to children can seek out social support, if not from family and friends, is through the use of online forums dedicated to people who share this issue. The study funded by a grant from the Tiny Foundation explored the usage of these forums, including frequency of forum use, reasons for forum use, types of social support received through using the forums, how helpful people felt the forums were for managing their sexual attraction, and quality of offline support. The results directly informed efforts to develop and implement effective child sexual abuse perpetration prevention strategies.

‍

Seto found that most people initially sought out these online forums because they felt alone in their attraction to children and they were seeking out similar others. However, one-quarter indicated that they had joined the forums as they were too afraid to seek professional help. People reported that they most often received emotional and informational support through the forums and people who used the forums more frequently found the forums to be more helpful for managing their attraction to children. This study was presented at multiple conferences and published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.

‍

Due to the perceived helpfulness of online forums in providing emotional and informational support, some online forums could be a helpful mental health resource. Further, since one-quarter of participants sought online forums due to fear of reaching out to mental health professionals, online forums could be a way to build a bridge between help-seeking people who are attracted to children and competent mental health providers.

‍

It is important for mental health professionals to take the content of forums clients are using into consideration, and to have open dialogue about the types of messages they are engaging with online. Online forum “cultures” vary greatly, and not all forums take anti-abuse, pro-mental health stances. The types of forums people engage with could therefore impact the way they view sexual contact with children or their motivation to seek professional mental health services.

‍

Still, online forums have the potential to be helpful avenues to ultimately reduce sexual offending against children.