Exploring the Stigmatisation of Offending & Non-offending Paedophiles. A Terror Management approach.

Paedophilic individuals are a highly misunderstood and stigmatised group, with the general public tending to equate paedophilia with child sexual abuse. Given that paedophilia is often conflated as a psychiatric/mental health disorder and an extreme violent offence, the current study examined whether the stigma towards paedophilic individuals is related to negative associations with severe mental illness and extreme violence. We also used the terror management theory to provide further insights into why paedophilia is so highly stigmatised. A sample of 126 participants were split into one of six conditions and provided punitive and moral character judgments, as well as salience of death thoughts. Conditions were divided into three main stigma conditions (Paedophilia vs. Schizophrenia vs. Homicidal ideation), which were further divided into two conditions (offending vs. non-offending). Results showed that judgments were harsher in the offending conditions than the non-offending conditions. Results also showed that the stigmatisation of paedophilic and schizophrenic individuals may be mediated by terror management processes. These findings suggest that paedophilia is believed to be associated with severe forms of mental illness where an individual is not able to control their own state of mind. Thus, addressing perceptions of dangerousness towards individuals with severe mental illness is a crucial step towards developing effective strategies to help reduce such stigma.