Understanding the Psychological Profile of Children and Youth Engaging in Sexual Contact with non-Human Animals: A Scoping Review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
It is developmentally normal for children to display some sexual behaviors but concerning sexual behaviors (CSBs) that deviate from societal norms are potentially harmful. The development of CSBs is influenced by various factors, including family dynamics, parental stressors, and disruptions in psychosexual development. Historically, sexual abuse was seen as the primary cause of CSBs, but current research suggests that nonsexual abuse and family environment also play significant roles. This scoping review synthesized literature on the psychological characteristics of children and youth who engage in sexual contact with animals, providing guidance for practitioners. The 17 studies reviewed, primarily from the U.S. documented a range of sexual behaviors toward animals by youth. These youths were often linked to troubled backgrounds and mental health issues, though some cases showed no significant psychological problems. The findings underscore the need for thorough psychological assessment to determine if these behaviors are isolated incidents or part of a broader pattern requiring intervention. This study highlights the lack of research in this area and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, emphasizing that these behaviors are often associated with mental health issues and family instability, making early intervention crucial.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.010 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.008 | 0.006 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".