<< Pre-adolescent Contacts with Adult Males>>

There is a growing concern in our culture over the sexual contacts that pre-adolescent children sometimes have with adults. Most persons feel that all such contacts are undesirable because of the immediate disturbance they may cause the child, and because of the conditioning and possibly traumatic effects which they may have on the child’s socio-sexual development and subsequent sexual adjustments in marriage. Press reports might lead one to conclude that an appreciable percentage of all children are subjected, and frequently subjected, to sexual approaches by adult males, and that physical injury is a frequent consequence of such contacts. But most of the published data are based on cases which come to the attention of physicians, the police, and other social agencies, and there has hitherto been no opportunity to know what proportion of all children is ever involved.
    The following indicate the nature of the present concern over adult sexual approaches to children: Hoover, J. Edgar, ‘‘How Safe is Your Daughter?’’ American Magazine July, 1947:32 (“depraved human beings, more savage than beasts, are permitted to roam America almost at will”). Wittels, “What Can We Do About Sex Crimes?” Saturday Evening Post Dec. 11, 1948:31 (“at least tens of thousands of them [sex killers] are loose in the country today”). Frankfurter, Justice Felix, dissenting in Maryland v. Baltimore Radio Show 1950:338 U. S. 912 (“The impact of those two similar crimes [child sex murders] upon the public mind was terrific. The people throughout the city were outraged”). Levy, “Interaction of Institutions and Policy Groups: The Origin of Sex Crime Legislation,” 1951:3. McDonald 1952 (a 31 page bedtime story book, which attempts to instill fear of all adults, both familiar and strange, as potential “sex perverts,” utilizing a hobgoblin and witch technique in which friends turn into monsters with sexual intentions).
    In 30 states the maximum punishment for sexual intercourse with a female child is death or life imprisonment. In 1952 alone, Calif., Mich., and Penn, made provision for life imprisonment for persons convicted of indecent or immoral practices with a child, and in recent years Ga., Ind., N. Y., N. J., Okla., and Texas have greatly increased their penalties for such activity. In 1949 the murder of Joyce Glucroft led to the convening of an extraordinary session of the California Legislature for the sole purpose of handling the problem of sex crimes against children.

Incidence and Frequency of Contacts with Adults
We have data from 4441 of our female subjects which allow us to determine the incidence of pre-adolescent sexual contacts with adult males, and the frequency of such contacts. For the sake of the present calculations we have defined an adult male as one who has turned adolescent and who is at least fifteen years of age; and, in order to eliminate experiences that amount to nothing more than adolescent sex play, we have considered only those cases in which the male was at least five years older than the female, while the female was still pre-adolescent. On this basis, we find that some 24 per cent (1075) of the females in the sample had been approached while they were pre-adolescent by adult males who appeared to be making sexual advances, or who had made sexual contacts with the child. Three-fourths of the females (76 per cent) had not recognized any such approach.

For the general population, there are data on the incidences and frequencies of sex aggressions against pre-adolescent girls (although the nature of the aggression is not exactly defined) in: Hamilton 1929:334-338 (20 of 100 females had 31 such experiences). Landis et al. 1940:278 (107 instances for 295 females). Data based entirely on cases that reach the clinic or court are in: Ackerson 1931:69-72. Apfelberg et al. 1944:763. Bowman 1952:49.

Approaches had occurred most frequently in poorer city communities where the population was densely crowded in tenement districts; and while many of the subjects covered by the present volume were raised in such communities, we would have found higher incidences of pre-adolescent contacts with adults if we had had more cases from lower educational groups, or if we had included the data which we have on females who had served penal sentences, and on Negro females. These latter groups, however, were excluded from the calculations in the present volume.

The frequencies of the pre-adolescent contacts with adults were actually low. Some 80 per cent of the females who were ever involved seem to have had only a lone experience in all of their pre-adolescent years. Another 12 per cent reported two such experiences, and 3 per cent reported something between three and six childhood experiences. On the other hand, 5 per cent of those who had been involved reported nine or more experiences during pre-adolescence. Repetition had most frequently occurred when the children were having their contacts with relatives who lived in the same household. In many instances, the experiences were repeated because the children had become interested in the sexual activity and had more or less actively sought repetitions of their experience.

Among the females who had been approached by adult males when they were pre-adolescent children, the ages at which they were approached were distributed as follows:

Ages of Females Having Adult Contacts
AgePercent of
Active Sample		 Percent of
Total Sample		 Age Percent of
Active Sample		 Percent of
Total Sample
4 51 9 164
5 82 10 266
6 92 11 246
7 133 12 257
8 174 13 196
Cases   10394407

Adult Partners
The adult males who had approached these pre-adolescent children were identified as follows:

Adult Partners Percent of
Active Sample
Strangers 52
Friends and acquaintances 32
Uncles 9
Fathers 4
Brothers 3
Grandfathers 2
Other relatives 5
Cases reporting 609

Some 85 per cent of the subjects reported that only a single male had approached them when they were children. Some 13 per cent reported that two different males had made such approaches, 1 per cent reported three males, and another 1 per cent reported four or more males making such approaches.
Hamilton 1929:337 found that relatives were the adults involved in 6 out of 31 cases (i.e., 20 per cent compared to our figure of 23 per cent). Landis et al. 1940:278 (found members of the family or close relatives involved in 35 per cent of cases). Bowman 1952:49 reports that adult involved was a stranger in only 7 out of 46 cases, and a neighbor, family friend, or relative in the other instances.

Nature of Contacts with Adults
The early experiences which the females in the sample had had with adult males had involved the following types of approaches and contacts:

Nature of Contact Percent
Approach only 9
Exhibition, male genitalia 52
Exhibition, female genitalia 1
Fondling, no genital contact 31
Manipulation of female genitalia 22
Manipulation of male genitalia 5
Oral contact, female genitalia 1
Oral contact, male genitalia 1
Coitus 3
Number of cases with experience 1075

Nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of these sexual approaches to children were verbal approaches or genital exhibition. In most of these cases the adult male had exhibited his genitalia, but in one per cent of the cases he had persuaded the small girl to exhibit her genitalia. It is difficult, in any given instance, to know the intent of an exhibiting male, but our histories from males who had been involved in such exhibitions and who, in a number of instances, had been prosecuted and given penal sentences for such exhibitions, include many males who would never have attempted any physical contact with a child. The data, therefore, do not warrant the assumption that any high percentage of these males would have proceeded to specifically sexual contacts. It is even more certain that it would have been an exceedingly small proportion of the exhibitionists who would have done any physical damage to the child. In all of the penal record, there are exceedingly few cases of rapists who start out as exhibitionists.
    For further discussion of the role of the male exhibitionist and his pattern of sexual activity see: Henninger 1941:357 ff. (83 cases over a 2-year period). Arieff and Rotman 1942:523. New York Mayor’s Committee 1944:56. Hirning 1947:557. Kelleher acc. Braude 1950:19-20. Rickies 1950:42 (‘‘My personal experience and that of many other observers in the field, has shown conclusively that the public need have no fear of exhibitionists. They are not a physical threat to anyone”). Guttmacher 1951:31-33, 71-76. Guttmacher and Weihofen 1952:157.
    That the progression from minor to major sex crimes rarely occurs, is also noted in: Tappan 1950:6. Guttmacher 1951:113-114 (“our investigations, as well as others, indicate first, that there is a low degree of recidivism among sexual offenders, and second, that there is no basis for the common belief that sex criminals engage in sex crimes of progressive malignancy”). Michigan Report 1951:4. Bowman in Brown 1951:151. Kelley acc. Guttmacher 1951:114 (only one case out of 100 reviewed in New York showed an increase in the amount of force used in the sex offense). Kelleher 1952:6 (in a study of 1328 sex offenders, concludes that ‘‘with few exceptions, a mild sexual offender remains mild, and ... we could find little evidence of progression from mild to violent sex crimes within the individual”).

The satisfaction which an adult male secures when he exhibits either to a pre-adolescent or to an adult, appears to depend, at least in part, upon the emotional excitation which he experiences when he observes the fright or surprise or embarrassment of the female whom he accosts. To an even greater degree, his satisfaction may depend upon the emotional arousal which he experiences when he risks social and legal difficulties by engaging in taboo behavior. In some cases there may be a narcissistic element in his display of his genital capacities. Not infrequently the adult male masturbates before the child. Sometimes, however, his exposure is quite accidental, as in the case of an intoxicated or urinating male, and the child is mistaken in believing that the exhibition is deliberate.

Some 31 per cent of these sexual contacts with adults had involved fondling and petting which, however, still had not involved genital contacts.

In 22 per cent of the cases the adult had touched or more specifically manipulated the genitalia of the child, and in 5 per cent of the cases the child had manipulated the male genitalia. Children, out of curiosity, sometimes initiate the manipulation of male genitalia, even before the male has made any exposure.

In about one per cent of the cases, the male had made oral contacts with the female genitalia, and in about the same percentage of cases the male had persuaded the child to make oral contacts with his genitalia.

Among the children who had had any sort of contact with adults, there were 3 per cent (i.e., 0.7 per cent of the total female sample) who had had coitus with the adult.

Significance of Adult Contacts
There are as yet insufficient data, either in our own or in other studies, for reaching general conclusions on the significance of sexual contacts between children and adults. The females in the sample who had had pre-adolescent contacts with adults had been variously interested, curious, pleased, embarrassed, frightened, terrified, or disturbed with feelings of guilt. The adult contacts are a source of pleasure to some children, and sometimes may arouse the child erotically (5 per cent) and bring it to orgasm (1 per cent). The contacts had often involved considerable affection, and some of the older females in the sample felt that their pre-adolescent experience had contributed favorably to their later socio-sexual development.

On the other hand, some 80 per cent of the children had been emotionally upset or frightened by their contacts with adults. A small portion had been seriously disturbed; but in most instances the reported fright was nearer the level that children will show when they see insects, spiders, or other objects against which they have been adversely conditioned.

The effects on children of sexual contacts with adults are also discussed in: Abraham (1907) 1927:52-57 (such events often not reported to parents because of child's guilt feelings at pleasure in the experience). Bender and Blau 1937:500-513 (11 girls, ages 5 to 12, free of guilt and fear). Rasmussen 1934 (follow-up of 54 cases in Denmark showed little evidence of ill effects). Landis et al. 1940:279 (no unpleasant reactions in 44 per cent of 107 cases; worry, shock, or fright in 56 per cent). Bowman 1952:52-53, 61 (findings substantiate experience of other students). David M. Levy 1953 (communication ) (concludes from experience with numerous cases that psychologic effects are primarily the result of the adult emotional disturbance, and are likely to be negligible if there is no physical harm to child).

If a child were not culturally conditioned, it is doubtful if it would be disturbed by sexual approaches of the sort which had usually been involved in these histories. It is difficult to understand why a child, except for its cultural conditioning, should be disturbed at having its genitalia touched, or disturbed at seeing the genitalia of other persons, or disturbed at even more specific sexual contacts. When children are constantly warned by parents and teachers against contacts with adults, and when they receive no explanation of the exact nature of the forbidden contacts, they are ready to become hysterical as soon as any older person approaches, or stops and speaks to them in the street, or fondles them, or proposes to do something for them, even though the adult may have had no sexual objective in mind. Some of the more experienced students of juvenile problems have come to believe that the emotional reactions of the parents, police officers, and other adults who discover that the child has had such a contact, may disturb the child more seriously than the sexual contacts themselves. The current hysteria over sex offenders may very well have serious effects on the ability of many of these children to work out sexual adjustment some years later in their marriages.

The following studies have investigated the possibility of a relationship between pre-adolescent traumatic experience and later sexual adjustment: Hamilton 1929:342 (data on 46 females, but pre-adolescent experience not distinguished from later pre-marital experience). Terman 1938:393, 397; 1951:136, 140, found no significant correlation between “sex shock” and orgasm adequacy.

There are, of course, instances of adults who have done physical damage to children with whom they have attempted sexual contacts, and we have the histories of a few males who had been responsible for such damage. But these cases are in the minority, and the public should learn to distinguish such serious contacts from other adult contacts which are not likely to do the child any appreciable harm if the child’s parents do not become disturbed. The exceedingly small number of cases in which physical harm is ever done the child is to be measured by the fact that among the 4441 females on whom we have data, we have only one clear-cut case of serious injury done to the child, and a very few instances of vaginal bleeding which, however, did not appear to do any appreciable damage.

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