Over 10% of adult men in Spain acknowledge having engaged in some form of sexual behaviour against minors

At CaixaForum Madrid today, researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) presented the first nationwide study to quantify sexual attraction to people under the age of 16 and acts of sexual violence against children and adolescents in Spain, based on responses from the general adult male population.

The research, which involved a sample of 6,010 adult men residing throughout Spain, was conducted as part of the international Prevention Global programme, in collaboration with the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins University. Prevention Global is a research initiative led by the centre and the Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal in Ottawa, Canada, and constitutes one of the largest investments to date in research on the prevention of sexual violence against children.

Its objective is twofold: to find out the true scale of the problem in different countries using the same measurement tool, and to identify which strategies effectively prevent harm from occurring. The study's application in Spain makes it possible to include Spanish data in this international comparison for the first time.

Sexual violence against children and adolescents is a violation of human rights and a structural public health problem. Until now, the evidence available in Spain has come almost exclusively from judicial and police records and victimization studies; in other words, from data on incidents in which harm has already occurred. This study, which involved Pablo Romero, a researcher with the Empirical and Applied Victimology (VICRIM) group, affiliated with the UOC-DIGIT centre, and a member of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, offers a complementary and overlooked perspective: what proportion of the adult population acknowledges such behaviour and what factors are associated with it? Its objective is explicitly preventive: we cannot prevent what we do not understand.

Attraction and behaviour: two related but distinct phenomena

One of the study's main contributions is that it separately measures two phenomena that tend to be conflated in public debate: on the one hand, sexual attraction to people under the age of 16, and, on the other, the perpetration of acts of sexual violence against children and adolescents. The study assessed these two phenomena independently. A total of 22.2% of participants reported having experienced some degree of sexual attraction to people under the age of 16 since reaching adulthood. In most cases, this attraction was infrequent and secondary to attraction to adults: 12.3% described it as occurring "hardly ever", while only 1.9% reported experiencing it most of the time or almost always. Exclusive attraction to minors, without any attraction to adults, was very uncommon, representing just 0.3% of the sample.

The findings confirm an association between the two phenomena: participants who reported such attraction were significantly more likely to report acts of sexual violence. However, the study also highlights that this association is not deterministic: 72.8% of men who reported sexual attraction to people under the age of 16 did not report any acts of sexual violence against children or adolescents.

For the research team, this distinction does not minimize the seriousness of the problem, but it makes it possible to address it. It has identified a large group of people who experience such attraction but have not committed acts of sexual violence against children or adolescents, which provides an opportunity for early intervention before a victim is harmed. "The fact that most people who report such attraction have not committed any acts of sexual violence does not diminish the seriousness of the problem. Rather, it tells us where and when we can intervene. Offering early and confidential support is a child protection measure," said Romero, co-director of the study.

Figures on behaviour

A total of 10.2% of participants acknowledged having engaged, at least once in their lives, in an act of sexual violence involving a person under the age of 18. When the analysis is limited to children and adolescents under the age of 15, the prevalence is 2.8%, falling to 1.7% for those under the age of 12. A total of 3.4% of participants reported having engaged in such conduct in the previous 12 months.

These figures do not represent crime or conviction rates. The study is based on self-reported behaviours, both with and without physical contact, in physical and digital settings. It includes cases involving 16- and 17-year-old adolescents only where the respondent is at least 10 years older. This criterion excludes consensual sexual relationships between people of similar ages, even where one person is a minor. Since these behaviours are highly stigmatized, they are likely to be underreported. The estimates should therefore be interpreted as conservative.

Online: less common, but more persistent

Over the course of a lifetime, acts of sexual violence against children and adolescents are more common offline (9.7%) than online (4.2%). This finding challenges the public narrative that portrays screens as the primary setting for this type of violence. However, recent activity is considerably more common online: more than half (56%) of those who reported at least one act of online sexual violence against children or adolescents during their lifetime also reported such behaviour in the previous 12 months, compared with 27% offline. In addition, a slightly higher proportion of online acts involved younger children. The study concludes that the digital environment must occupy a central place in prevention strategies.

From prevalence to prevention

The study shows that risk does not stem from a single cause, but rather from a combination of each individual's life history, psychological state and behaviour. On this basis, the research team proposes four areas for action:

Information and awareness-raising. Clearly explain that attraction and behaviour are not equivalent and convey an unequivocal message: experiencing attraction does not justify any act of sexual violence.

Prevention and early support. Provide confidential guidance resources for people who feel attraction to children or adolescents but have not committed acts of sexual violence against them, with specialized programmes and professional referral pathways.

Training for professionals. Train mental health, education, social services, justice and child protection professionals to identify signs of risk, provide guidance and make referrals.

Research and public policy. Conduct regular national studies to inform the design and evaluation of evidence-based policies.

International initiatives, such as the German Dunkelfeld project, demonstrate that confidential support can be offered to people who have not harmed anyone and wish to prevent harm. In Spain, however, access to specialized prevention resources remains limited.

This study is aligned with the UOC's Digital transition and sustainability research mission and contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goals 5 on Gender Equality, 10 on Reduced Inequalities and 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

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More information: www.uoc.edu/en/research