The causes of pedophilia remains unclear, It is said that some men engage in sexual acts with young children with the belief that this form of sex promotes their health, eventually to avoid the danger of a deadly infection. Medical experts believe that it may not be all about craving for sex with boys but less grey matter compared to normal people and other psychiatric problems could be responsible for this condition. RALIAT AHMED explains.
It is not strange these days to hear of cases of men who take sexual interest in children. Men who engage in this act are called pedophiles.
While the condition is an abnormal, disgusting and even satanic as described by the two dominant religions allover the world, scientific research into this psychotic disorder in men think that the cause could be attributed to a lower grey matter in the brains of the men involved in it.
According to medical experts, pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in men typically characterised by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in children (about 13 years or younger).
For men who suffer from this psychosexual disorder, their fantasy or actual act of engaging in sexual activity with children is the preferred means of achieving sexual satisfaction.
A researcher, Boris Schiffer and colleagues of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany studied 18 convicted pedophiles with a history of repeatedly abusing children younger than 14.
Their brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging and compared the scans to those of normal men of matching ages. The scans revealed that the pedophiles had less “grey matter” – tissue with a high concentration of nerve cells – in several areas of the brain.
Schiffer’s group found that the pedophiles had about 2 to 4% less grey matter in the orbitofrontal cortex – an area of the brain that plays an important role in high-level decision making and reasoning.
They also had 5 to 7% less grey matter in a region called the putamen, which is implicated in a wide range of brain functions such as movement and learning.
Schiffer stresses that a causal relationship may not really be clear for now until further research is carried out he notes that similar differences have been found in people who suffer other forms of compulsive behaviour, and points out that the development of the orbitofrontal cortex is thought to play a crucial role in moderating addictive behaviour.
Explaining what could lead to pedophilia in men, a physician, Dr Agadu Charles says? that the condition (pedophilia) is a combination of psychological and genetic disorder.
“It can and also associated with environmental factors. Several factors could be responsible for pedophilia. Biological cause reason such as brain trauma before the age of 6 in boys could lead to this condition”, he says.
According to him, there are other causes ranging from accidents involving the brain which associates with lower intelligence and educational levels to a genetic disorder.
If there is a history of pedophilia in a family there is every tendency of having pedophiles in future generations compared to a family without such a history.
Some studies however have identified some abnormal genes in the brain could lead to defects that renders the individuals more prone to pedophilia while the compulsive obsessive disorder usually triggers when some men only find solace in being with children or feel safer hanging around children than with adults, he notes.
Those suffering from this psychotic disorder he said can be treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medications.
There are two main types of pedophiles: the situational and the preferential.
In situational pedophiles, they go after any group that is defenseless, such as the elderly, the mentally-challenged, the handicapped etc. This type prefers children, but will go after another group if they feel stressed.
Preferential Pedophiles is the most common — like children in a distinct age group and they typically do not deviate from this age group.
Several other theories exist as to the causes of pedophilia. Some researchers attribute pedophilia along with the other paraphilias to biology.
They hold that testosterone, one of the male sex hormones, predisposes men to develop deviant sexual behaviors. As far as genetic factors are concerned, no research has claimed to have discovered or mapped a gene for pedophilia.
Most experts regard pedophilia as resulting from psychosocial factors rather than biological characteristics. Some think that pedophilia is the result of having been sexually abused as a child. Still others think that it derives from the person’s interactions with parents during their early years of life.