5) Methodological Approach

5.1 Research plan 
5.2 Demographic data and factors influencing components of self-concept, feelings of being under stress, and sense of well-being 
5.3 Summary of Demographic Characteristics 
5.4 Procedures Employed 
5.5 Data Analysis Methods

5. 1 Research plan

The present pilot study is aimed primarily at obtaining an explorational quantitative and qualitative understanding of the so-called ‘dark number.’ Here, 

Though it is true that different approaches to the 'dark number' and the use of the snowball method cannot ensure representativeness, this way of going forward does help to minimize gross statistical distortions in the selection of research participants. The original intention was to carry out the present study in the form of semi-structured interviews, which were to be validated with the Heidelberg Structure-Imposition Technique. (Scheele & Groebeo, 1988).

Although it had gotten as far as a rough draft for the interview procedure, at a later point in time, that too was ultimately discarded. It may be found in the appendix of the present work (pg. 138).

In the final analysis preference was given to the questionnaire method, because through it, a large number of respondents can be reached relatively quickly. Moreover, in contrast to the interview method, the questionnaire method has the advantage of better ensuring participants' anonymity.

5.1.1 Establishing contact; recruitment sources and methods

The initial contact established with the ‘dark number' occurred over the Internet, with members of self-help groups. The author represented himself as an interested citizen who wanted to be informed on the subject of pedophilia directly by those affected, as well as become acquainted with their point of view.

At the same time, he also mentioned his research interests (pedophilic men’s social and psychical situations).

Furthermore, personal contact was established with disseminators who were widely trusted by this sexual scene.

Sixty-seven 'dark number' participants were recruited, along with an additional five 'light number' participants.

The collection period stretched over some six months (February 2004 until the end of July 2004.

Table 1 - Overview of recruitment sources /methods

5.1.2 Participation Rate

[47] The participation rate can only be determined in a very rough sense. Overall, there were close to 200 questionnaires in written form distributed to various third persons, only a small portion of which could have been exhaustively circulated. About 60 questionnaires were presumably not distributed at all. This figure represents a rather low estimate. The established gross rate of participation would amount to at least 60% (82 participants; including secondary pedophiles, with a net participation rate of at least 50% (72 participants; excluding secondary pedophiles). The following factors have presumably contributed to this relatively high participation rate:

5.2 Demographic data and factors influencing components of self-concept, feelings of being under stress, and sense of well-being

5.2.1 Sexual Orientation

There were 82 participants recruited, of whom 72 were, based on their sexual representations, classified as primarily pedophilic. The remaining ten participants were classified as secondarily pedophilic, and are not considered in the analysis. 

With the major portion of primarily pedophilic participants, what we have are 

participants were able to be recruited.

Fig 7 - Sexual orientation of primarily pedophilic participants

5.2.1.1 Approach to Determining Primary Pedophilia in This Study

For the presence of "true" pedophilia, the classification criterion of “sexual fantasies" with regard to the characteristics of orientation, intensity, and temporal duration (of their existence) was chosen. 

5.2.1.2 Intensity and Direction of Sexual Fantasies (Classification Schema)

Among the men in this sample classified as homosexually pedophilic, there was a minority who also had a slight sexual erotic interest in girls (five participants). In close to a fourth of the homosexually pedophilic men (24.6%), a small degree of attraction to adult partners was also found. More of the subjects "sometimes" felt themselves drawn to men than to women. 

Fig 8a - Intensity and direction of sexual fantasies among men classified as primary homosexually pedophilic (N=61)

Among the men in this sample classified as heterosexually pedophilic, five research participants also evinced a slight sexual/erotic interest in boys. Furthermore, in one participant, a slight attraction to women as sexual partners was detected.

Fig 8b - Intensity and direction of sexual fantasies among men classified as primary heterosexually pedophilic (N=7)

Fig 8c - Intensity and direction of sexual fantasies among men classified as primary bisexually pedophilic (N=4)

The men classified as bisexually pedophilic showed a clear interest in boys and girls (Fig. 8c). All four participants from this sub-sample also felt themselves drawn [49] sexually to adults to a slight degree (three participants towards men, one participant towards women. 

Of the ten selected-out secondarily pedophilic participants, half were heterosexual and half were homosexual. Two of the homosexual men evinced a slight bisexual tendency. The classification criterion, whether someone is hetero-, homo-, or bisexually-assessed, was determined here -- in contrast to the primarily pedophilic participants -- solely by the gender of the adult sexual attraction.

Fig 8d - Intensity and direction of sexual fantasies among men classified as secondary pedophilic 
(N=10, of which five are heterosexual, five homosexual)

With regard to sexual arousability by children, among the heterosexuals in this sample, it was shown that two of the participants "often” felt themselves sexually attracted to boys, and one participant "often" felt himself sexually drawn to girls. In one participant there existed a stronger ("often"), and in an additional one, a less strongly pronounced ("sometimes”) interest in boys or girls. 

Heterosexual participants' interest in child stimuli was present in homosexually pedophilic, heterosexually pedophilic, and bisexually pedophilic forms. The homosexuals in this sample evinced an exclusive sexual interest in boys. In one participant, more of a pronounced attraction ("often") was present, and in an. additional four, a less pronounced ("sometimes”) attraction was present.

5.2.2 Age

At the time the data was collected, the bulk of the research participants were between 26 and 50 years of age. The youngest participant was 19, the oldest, 68. The average age was 38.5 years, with a standard deviation of 12.6 years. 

As the age distribution in Table 2 makes clear, both young as well as older men were receptive to the study. The 21-30 and 31-41 age groups were somewhat more strongly represented than other age groups.

Table 2 - Age of research participants

Table 3 - Age-group distribution of participants

The research participants were combined into four age groups. Due to the lower representations of the higher age groups (51-60 as well as 61-70), [50] these two groups were combined into a single category of those 5l or older. The 19-year-old was considered part of Age Group 1, in order to avoid having an under-21 category. 

The distribution in Table 3 constitutes the basis for age-group comparisons of participants with regard to pronounced psychical characteristics. 

Homosexually, heterosexually, and bisexually pedophilic participants are relatively homogeneously distributed over the four age-groups. There is no significant relationship between the characteristics of age-group and pedophilic orientation. 

Furthermore, there is no significant association between the characteristics of age-group and recruitment source/method. Participants from self-help groups are primarily found in the 26-50 age-range (average age 38.4), standard deviation 12.0 years). At the time the data was collected, the average age of the participants who were recruited by means of the snowball method was 36.9. These are found primarily in the age-range of between 24 and 50.

5.2.3 Education and Occupation

Fig 9 - Participants' schooling

Fig 10 - Participants' educational level

Consequently, close to two-thirds of participants had gone through more advanced schooling and achieved higher educational levels; with somewhat less than a third, there were moderate levels of schooling and education. And in a small portion of the studied population (ca. 7%), levels of schooling and education were low. 

The characteristics of schooling and educational level are distributed relatively homogeneously among the age-classes. There is no significant association between age-group membership and schooling or age-group membership and educational level. 

At the time of the study, 

An overview is provided in Figure 11. [51] 

Fig 11 - Participants' occupational status

The figures given are percentages
Wp = Working people
St = Students
Re = Retirees
Cms = Civil-/military service
Un = Unemployed
Noinf = No information

In a research population of predominantly higher schooling and educational levels, the portion of unemployed is itself strikingly high. In personal conversations as well, those concerned will occasionally point out that a considerable share of members of this sexual scene has little income or is unemployed. 

The characteristic "occupational status" is non-homogeneous relative to the characteristic "criminal proceedings" (exact Fisher test p=0.034). 

had had run-ins with the legal system.

The average age of those 

Participants who were unemployed or working people were distributed relatively homogeneously across the four age groups. There is no significant association between the characteristics of "age group" and "working" (comparing working people with the unemployed). 

The association frequently encountered in the literature, that pedophiles would mainly go into (pedagogical) professions (e.g., Bundschuh, 2001, pg. 138) where they would have frequent contact with children, could not be confirmed by the statements of the population studied. 

Figure 12 gives an overview of the current fields of occupation as well as the professional training of the research participants to be found there (N=50).

Fig 12 - Participants' fields of occupation 

Noinf = No information
ScMa = Science / Management 
TeTr = Techniques / Traffic 
Educ = Education 
ICT = Information & Communication Technology 
Art/Crea = Arts or creative job 
Craft = Craft

For reasons of anonymity, the individual occupations cited were combined into general categories. Two independent raters had an average concurrence of 92.9% across all categories.

It was a colorful palette of the most diverse occupational fields, in which they were skilled as well as working. With regard to age-structure, participants from all four age-groups were to be found in the most common occupational fields (business/administration, pedagogical sphere, and technology and engineering). Nineteen research participants (38.0%), presumably due to fear of loss of anonymity, did not respond to this question. 

5.2.4 Family Status and Children

Six participants (8.3%) had children of their own. Of the fathers, there were two heterosexually pedophilic and four homosexually pedophilic participants, in Age Groups 2, 3, and 4. 

One-quarter of the pedophilic participants (N=71 here) judged the statement, "many pedophiles will co-habit with an adult partner in order to prevent their sexual preference from becoming outwardly obvious," to be applicable to themselves personally (25.4%), and in the case of one participant (1.4%), as very applicable. The men who made these statements were found predominantly in the 31-48 age range (Age Groups 2 and 3).

5.2.5 Criminal Proceedings

Nearly a third of the participants (30.6%) had previous convictions for violating the right to sexual self-determination (Article 13 StGB - fines and/or prison sentences). 

No statement is able to be made as to whether the criminal acts involved offenses relating to child pornography (§184) or actual pedosexual contacts (§§174, 176, 177, 180, 182).

Participants' relative frequency of having had one or more previous criminal convictions progressively increased across age-groups, from 13.6% up to 61.5%. 

There is a significant association between the characteristics of age-group and past criminal proceedings (exact Fisher test p=0.010). 

Fig 13 - Age group and criminal proceedings 

[53] Of the participants with previous criminal convictions (N=22), 

The participants made a distinction with regard to their first and second convictions: both regarded their first convictions as fully justified, but not their second.

5.2.6 Therapy Experience

Thirty-eight participants had some experience with therapy, and are distributed among all four age-classes. Therapy experiences were somewhat increased among participants in Age Group 4, and a bit less common among those in Age Group 1. 

There is, however, no significant relationship between the characteristics "age-group" and "therapy experience." This means that younger and older participants do not differ with respect to the presence of psychotherapy experiences. 

At the time of data collection, 

Fig 14 - Participants' therapy experience

5.2.7 Evaluating the homogeneity of demographic characteristics and influence factors

The homogeneities of all demographic characteristics and influence factors were tested against one another by means of the chi-square test (hypothesis: homogeneity present), in order to be able to adequately evaluate the results regarding

What emerged overall was a picture of negligible confounding variables. In the following, only those results which are believed to be crucial for purposes of interpretation will be listed. 

5.3 Summary of Demographic Characteristics

5.4 Procedures Employed

To begin with the official procedures will be discussed, which were by no means developed by me personally, and which, due to pragmatic considerations, were merged with “Data Collection Sheet 1.” In connection with this, the two central procedures of the study that were used to estimate well-being and clinical symptomatology are presented in a brief overview. Constituting the conclusion is a series of procedures that were employed in order to capture the central self-concept characteristics.

5.4.1 Socio-Demographic Data Questionnaire and “Data Collection Sheet 1"

With the socio-demographic data questionnaire, we are talking about a catalog of questions, supplied by the author, which has two goals. 

"Data Collection Sheet 1" is comprised in part of a catalog of questions, from the author, concerning the areas of sexuality, socialization, social support, centrality of environment- and self-concepts, and conflict areas. In "Data Collection Sheet 1" there are also additional items which were taken from the following standardized procedures.

5.4.1.1 Item-Summary from the Munich Alcoholism Test (MALT-S)
by W. Feurlein, H. Kufner, Ch. Ringer & K. Antons-Volnerg (1999)

Four alcoholism items were taken from the Multiphasic (24 items in total), which should provide a rough idea of whether or not alcohol abuse is suspected. 

5.4.1.2 Item-Summary from the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSl) by G. Deegner (1996)

There were three items taken from the MST's sex-related lying scale, in order to get a rough idea as to the frankness of the participants with regard to statements concerning their sexuality.

5.4.1.3 “Openness" scale from the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI-R) by J. Fahrenberg, R. Hampel & H. Selg (1989)

[55] Items were taken from the FPI-R "Openness" Scale in order to assess participants’ general social extroversion. Average and higher scores on the "Openness" Scale can point to a rather self-critical appraisal. Participants evinced the same minor weaknesses and flaws shared by most of humanity. Low or extremely low scale-scores were common among the study participants, which are believed to indicate a strong conventional social norms orientation and/or make a good impression. The internal consistency of the "Openness" Scale stands at r=.74. It is based on norms representative of the overall population. 

5.4.1.4 Short Stress-Test (SKT) by K. Reschke & H. Schröder (2000)

Consisting of seven items, the Short Stress-Test makes a stress screening possible and encompasses the following areas: loss of control, loss of meaning, anger, sleep disturbances, inability to relax, current source of stress, and absence of social support. The test was evaluated on 247 persons from various samples. It has satisfactory values for the criteria-related validity and reliability of the procedure.

5.4.2 The Triere Personality Questionnaire (TPF) by P. Becker (1989)

The TPF represents various personality characteristics which have psychological health relevance to the goal of successful stress-mastery. 

The procedure was developed through the use of factor analysis and measures two independent meta-aspects of personality: 

In factor-analytic studies involving various constellations of variables, these meta-aspects have proven themselves able to be frequently replicated, account for a great deal of variance, and show relationships between other personality variables. 

Moreover, the TPF's nine sub-scales encompass the component parts of “mental health." These are arranged factor-analytically into three spheres: 

In theory, these component parts contribute to higher values for the construct of "mental health." The nine subscales, which are comprised of some 120 items from the TPF, are described in Table 4.

Table 4 - Overview of the nine sub-scales of the TFP

[56] In contrast to the traditional clinical questionnaire testing (e.g., SCL-90-R), the TPF does not, in the first place, encompass a compilation of symptomatic behaviors, but instead attempts to include the entire spectrum of mental health in terms of advantageous variants (research participants' strengths and/or resources). 

Norms exist for age groups of between 18 and 80 (N=961). The internal consistencies of the nine sub-scales lie between r=.77 and r=.91. The TPF is known for its distinguished psychometric foundation.

5.4.3 The SCL-90-R Symptom Checklist by Derrogatis (German Version by G. H. Franke, 1995)

The SCL-90-R measures a person's subjectively felt impairment by physical and psychical symptoms over a seven-day time-period. It is an ideal complement to procedures for measuring the extremely temporally variable manifestations -- as well as the chronologically durable structure -- of the personality (e.g., the TPF). The procedure offers, and is utilized as, an overview of a person's symptoms of psychical stress in reference to nine sub-scales and three established values.

Table 5 -  SCL-90-R Sub-scale description

[57] For clinical samples, the internal consistencies of individual scales lie between r=.79 and r=89. The items may be said to have "face validity." 

For normative samples, the inter-correlations between sub-scales is, on average, r=45. The reliability of the test profile for normative samples may be characterized as satisfactory, and for clinical groups, as good to very good.

Confirmatory tests supported the nine subscales in clinical groups above all. With the aid of a normative sample (N=1,006), sex- and education-specific T-values can be constructed.

5.4.4 SAM - Dispositional Self-Attention Assessment Questionnaire by S.-H. Filipp & E. Freudenberg (1989)

The SAM is a personality diagnostic tool which is designed to capture, in a temporal and situational way, individuals' relatively stable (below-average, average, or above-average) tendencies to make themselves the center of attention and the object of mental preoccupation. 

It has the effect, moreover, of differentiating between whether more privately- vs. more publicly- accessible aspects stand at the center of self-referent attention. 

The questionnaire is composed of a total of 27 statements written in the first-person, in which five-tiered scale rankings are made. 

The operational range of the questionnaire is extremely broad. It has been applied to, among others, the areas of

Consistency measures exist for various samples (N=1,251), ranging from r=.71 to r=.87. Reliability measures are satisfactory (r=.72 to r=.84). The face-validity of both sub-scales has been established by studies involving various samples. There are, in addition, a large number of indications as to the construct-validity of the sub-scales as well as their differential validity.

5.4.5 SSF -- Scales for measuring the Self-image of Functional social potency by H. Schröder (1985)

[58] With the Scales for measuring the self-image of functional social potency, we are talking about a procedure that captures the components of self-concept which are important in mastering social demand situations. 

The procedure does not actually measure “objectively" present social skills but instead illustrates the self-appraisal of fundamental social capabilities which, nevertheless, can have a strong act-regulating function. 

Schröder (1985, pg. 28) characterizes "functional potency" as the 

"basic ability to resolve interpersonal demands and the self-understanding of one's own 'effects' on or 'effectiveness in one’s own life-sphere." 

The questionnaire consists of 67 items which are meant to be evaluated, on a bipolar (-4 up to +4), nine-tiered scale, with regard to their applicability to one's own self. The items are divided into four scales, which are described as follows in Table 6.

Table 6 - SSF sub-scale description

Comparison values from a psychically unexceptional heterosexual control group of men and women (N=33) exist for the SSF (from Hempel, 2001).

5.4.5 The Multi-dimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (MSSCQ) by W.E. Snell (1998), Ger. translation by D. Blair

The MSSCQ captures, in the original American version, 20 psychological aspects of human sexuality and consists of 101 items. The test subject is asked to decide to what degree each given statement fits him (Likert scale 0-4). The values for the 20 sub-scales are derived from the arithmetic average of the item responses. Though normative values exist for the American original, there are no German norms. 

For the present study, four items from the MSSCQ were slightly modified and adapted to the special problems associated with this topic of research. For example, instead of being adopted from the original, the concept of “sexual disorder" was replaced with "sexual orientation."

Comparison values from a psychically unexceptional heterosexual control group of men and women (N=33) exists (from Hempel, 2001). Table 7 provides an overview of the MSSCQ sub-scales. [59] 

Table 7 - MSSCQ sub-scale descriptions

5.5 Data Analysis Methods

[60] For the evaluation of the data, the “SSPS 11.5” software was utilized. The descriptive measures of frequency, mean, and standard deviation constituted the description of the sample.