The term chronophilia was used by psychologist

John Money John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and Sex determination and differentiation (human), biology of gender. He was one of the first ...

to describe a form of

paraphilia Paraphilia (previously known as sexual perversion and sexual deviation) is the experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as sexual interest in anything ot ...

in which an individual experiences sexual attraction limited to individuals of particular age ranges. The term has not been widely adopted by

sexologists Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

, who instead use terms that refer to the specific age range in question. An arguable historical precursor was

Richard von Krafft-Ebing Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work ''Psychopathi ...

's concept of "age fetishism".

Sexual preferences based on age

*Attraction to minors **

Pedohebephilia Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia (the primary or exclusi ...

refers to an expansion and reclassification of pedophilia and hebephilia with subgroups, proposed during the development of the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...

. It refers more broadly to sexual attractions. Under the proposed revisions, people who are dysfunctional as a result of it would be diagnosed with pedohebephilic disorder. People would be broken down into types based on the idea of being attracted to one, the other or both of the subgroups. The proposed revision was not ratified for inclusion in the final published version of DSM-5. ***

Infantophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

(sometimes called ''nepiophilia'') is a subtype of pedophilia describing a sexual preference for children less than 5 years old (including

toddler A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...

s and

infants An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

). ***

Pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

is a

psychological disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children.World Health Organization
''International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems: ICD-10''
Section F65.4: Pedophilia (online access via ICD-10 site map table of contents) According to the fifth edition of the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...

(DSM-5), pedophilia is a

in which a person has intense sexual urges towards children, and experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and

fantasies Fantasy is a genre of fiction. Fantasy, Fantasie, or Fantasies may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Fantasia (music), a free-form musical composition * ''Fantasie'' (Widmann), a 1993 composition for solo clarinet by Jörg Widmann * ...

about children. Pedophilic disorder is further defined as psychological disorder in which a person meets the criteria for pedophilia above, and also either acts upon those urges, or else experiences distress or interpersonal difficulty as a consequence. The diagnosis can be made under the DSM or ICD criteria for persons age 16 and older. (see F65.4, pp. 166–167) **Attraction to adolescents ***

Hebephilia Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in puberty, pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia (the primary or ...

and

ephebophilia Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19. The term was originally used in the late 19th to mid-20th century. It is one of a number of sexual preferences across age groups subsumed under the t ...

are sexual preferences for pubescent and post-pubescent youths, respectively.Blanchard, R. Blanchard, R., Lykins, A. D., Wherrett, D., Kuban, M. E., Cantor, J. M., Blak, T., Dickey, R., & Klassen, P. E. (2008). Pedophilia, hebephilia, and the DSM–V. ''Archives of Sexual Behavior.'' . The term ''hebephilia'' was introduced by Bernard Glueck in 1955. *Attraction to adults **Teleiophilia (from Greek ''téleios'', "full grown") is a sexual preference for adults. The term was coined by

Ray Blanchard Ray Milton Blanchard ( ; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist, best known for his research studies on transsexualism, pedophilia and sexual orientation. He found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay tha ...

in 2000. **Mesophilia (derived from the Greek "mesos", "intermediate") is a sexual preference for middle-aged adults. The term was coined by

Michael Seto Michael Chikong Seto (; born 1967) is a Canadian forensic psychology, forensic psychologist, sexology, sexologist, and author. He is director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Royal Ottawa Health Care Gro ...

in 2016. **

Gerontophilia Gerontophilia is the primary sexual attraction to the elderly. A person with such a sexual preference is a gerontophile or gerontosexual. The word ''gerontophilia'' was coined in 1901 by psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. It derives from Gree ...

is a sexual preference for the elderly.

References

{{Pedophilia

Sexual preferences based on age

See also

References