What do you fantasize about? An exploratory factor analysis of minor attracted person's sexual fantasies

Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Sep 5:107018. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107018. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Current knowledge on the sexual fantasies of minor attracted persons (MAPs) is primarily focused on these individuals' attraction to minors. Furthermore, MAPs' sexual fantasies are often perceived as revolving systematically around scenarios involving a minor. However, this raises the question of whether their sexual fantasies extend beyond minors. To explore this, we analyzed data from 403 MAPs (364 men and 39 women), using a modified Joyal Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (JSFQ). Our exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed 5 factors: Male Partner Focused Fantasies (α = 0.905), Female Partner Focused Fantasies (α = 0.882), Coercing Focused Fantasies (α = 0.867), Promiscuous/Unattached Focused Fantasies (α = 0.848), and Romantic/Relational Sexual Fantasies (α = 0.650). These results not only highlight the diversity of MAPs' sexual interests of beyond their attraction to minors, paving the way for further research, but also suggest new perspectives for practitioners.

Keywords: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA); Minor attracted persons (MAPs); Pedophilia; Pedophilic fantasies; Sexual fantasies.