Fazio, Rachel L

Dyshniku, Fiona

Lykins, Amy

Cantor, James M

2017

Adult men's height results from an interaction among positive and negative influences, including genetic predisposition, conditions 'in utero', and influences during early development such as nutritional quality, pathogen exposure, and socioeconomic status. Decreased height, reflected specifically as a decreased leg length, is strongly associated with increased risk of poorer health outcomes. Although prior research has repeatedly shown that pedophiles are shorter than nonpedophiles, the largest study to date relied on self-reported height. In the present study, pedophiles demonstrated reduced measured height and reduced leg length as compared with teleiophiles. Given the prenatal and early childhood origins of height, these findings contribute additional evidence to a biological, developmental origin of pedophilia. In addition, the magnitude of this height difference was substantially larger than that found in children exposed to a variety of early environmental stressors, but similar to that seen in other biologically based neurodevelopmental disorders.

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 29(5), p. 500-514

1573-286X

1079-0632

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21478

en

Sage Publications, Inc

Leg Length Versus Torso Length in Pedophilia: Further Evidence of Atypical Physical Development Early in Life

Journal Article

Publication