Motives and Self-Reported Propensity for Sexual Offending in Community Men and Women

Abstract

Motives for online sexual offending have mostly been studied in forensic populations. To gain insights into risks and prevention options, community samples are also relevant. In this exploratory study, an online convenience sample of 2,764 participants (n_men = 1,263; n_women = 1,420) was recruited via social media platforms. Approximately 2%–4% of men and less than 1% of women from this online sample reported some propensity for online or contact sexual behaviors with a child, provided there were no negative personal consequences. Latent class analyses, conducted separately for men and women, identified three different classes based on scores on motivational risk factors, which we labeled “multiple motivations,” “social needs,” and “mating prowess.” In distal outcome analyses, individuals in the “multiple motivations” class (i.e., those with relatively high scores on most of the motivational factors) were most likely to engage in sexual offending against children and adults as well as other atypical or problematic behaviors. The exploratory findings suggest that not only paraphilia, but also social needs (e.g., loneliness, social anxiety) and other sexual domains (e.g., high sex drive) should be included in prevention efforts for sexual offending targeted to the general population.