The impact of childhood trauma, personality, and sexuality on the development of paraphilias

Purpose: Paraphilia can be defined as a condition in which the sexual excitement rely on fantasizing and/or participating in unusual sexual behaviour. The last decades have been rich with new studies investigating the prevalence of paraphilic desires and behaviours among the general population as well as clarifying the boundary between paraphilic and normophilic. However, few studies have focused on paraphilic interests’ nomological network.

Methods: The project aimed to assess the prevalence of paraphilias among the general population, including a sub-group of people with self-reported atypical sexual interests. Furthermore, the relationship between Childhood Traumatic Experiences, Personality Traits, Hypersexuality, Pornography Consumption and Paraphilic Arousal was examined through mediation analysis. Analyses were conducted on a sample of N = 372 participants.

Results: Analyses revealed a difference in the prevalence between sexual fantasy and sexual arousal, with a majority of self-reported arousal being lower than fantasy. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that the relationship between trauma and arousal is mediated by hypersexuality, problematic pornography consumption and personality traits.

Conclusions: Abuses during childhood are the starting point of an over-involvement in sexuality, which increase the likelihood of developing atypical sexual interest or behaviour. Implications will be discussed.