SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Forensic Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1568244
Cognitive Profiles of Paedophilic Behaviour: A Meta-Analytic and Systematic Review of Developmental vs Acquired Forms
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of General Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Veneto, Italy
- 2Department of Human Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
- 3Neuroscience Center, Department of General Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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Background: Developmental and acquired paedophilic behaviour are considered two distinct phenomena, yet no study has systematically compared the cognitive profiles of individuals committing these forms of child sexual offenses (CSO). This study explored whether individuals with developmental and acquired paedophilic behaviour are characterised by similar or different neuropsychological underpinnings and how these differences manifest themselves in observable behaviour. Methods: Thirty-four studies on developmental CSO and 17 (describing 21 cases) on acquired CSO were included. Multivariate meta-analytic approaches were adopted to investigate the cognitive abilities of individuals who committed CSO with (P+CSO) and without (CSO) a diagnosis of paedophilia (P), while a systematic review was conducted to identify the cognitive features of acquired CSO. Results: Meta-analytic findings showed overall worse neuropsychological performances for developmental CSO compared to the control group (μ = −0.186; p = .002). Subgroup analyses confirmed these results for both CSO (μ = −0.233; p < .05) and P+CSO (μ = −0.153; p < .05). The systematic review on acquired CSO revealed that all individuals (100%) exhibited deficits in inhibitory control and 62.5% of them showed concomitant impairments in social-cognition abilities. Conclusions: Developmental and acquired paedophilic behaviours share inhibitory control deficits, even though with different characteristics; however, social-cognitive deficits appear specific to acquired CSO. These findings provide insights into the neurocognitive underpinnings of these behaviours, highlighting distinct mechanisms that may influence their modi operandi.
Keywords: Child sexual offending, pedophilic disorder, cognitive profile, impulsivity, social cognition, Meta-analysis, systematic review, Pedophilia
Received: 29 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Costa, Ronconi, Ferracuti, Schincariol and Scarpazza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alexa Schincariol, Neuroscience Center, Department of General Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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