Background: The term "hebephilia" describes the sexual preference for minors at an early pubertal body age. For most clinicians the definition of hebephilia is not obvious and not integrated as a separate category in the DSM-5.
Method: N = 222 self-motivated applicants from the community for the therapy program of the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld in Berlin were assessed concerning their sexual preference towards minors.
Results: Approximately two-thirds (n = 153) showed a sexual interest in early pubertal minors (15 % exclusively; 85 % non-exclusively). Approximately 95 % reported having sexually abused children and/or having used child abusive images at least once in their lifetime. Hebephiles reported a significantly higher level of clinically relevant distress and personality characteristics, as well as more offense-supportive attitudes compared to normative samples.
Conclusion: Hebephilia can be differentiated from pedophilia in terms of sexual interest for the body age of the minor. Associated personal distress, deviant personality characteristics as well as sexual behavior problems suggest that hebephilia can fulfill the criteria of a sexual disorder which should be considered in classification systems (DSM, ICD).
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