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Lay theories of etiology and “cure” for four types of paraphilia: Fetishism; pedophilia; sexual sadism; and voyeurism
Author(s) -
Furnham Adrian,
Haraldsen Emmy
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199808)54:5<689::aid-jclp15>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - paraphilia , psychology , voyeurism , etiology , pedophilia , exhibitionism , personality , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , developmental psychology , poison control , psychiatry , social psychology , suicide prevention , sexual behavior , medicine , environmental health
The current study set out to investigate the structure, determinants, and relationship between lay theories of the etiology and efficacy of “cures” for four types of paraphilia: fetishism , pedophilia , sexual sadism , and voyeurism . One hundred and five participants completed a four‐part questionnaire, which was divided into (a) demographic details, (b) perceptions of the etiology, (c) ratings of cure for each paraphilia, and (d) the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Previous studies of lay theories have demonstrated a clear and interpretable factor structure similar to that of explicit academic theories, as well as a clear and logical relationship between perceived etiology and cure. A similar structure was expected to emerge in this study, together with positive correlations between the various factors and personality type. A factor analysis revealed a clear and logical factor structure for etiology and cure items. Further, etiology and cure factors correlated strongly with each other but only moderately with demographic details and personality differences. These findings are discussed in relation to growing literature in the field. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 54: 689–700, 1998.