Chronophilia are forms of romantic preferences and/or sexual attractions limited to individuals of particular age ranges. Some such attractions, specifically those towards prepubescents and those towards the elderly, constitute types of

paraphilia A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human ...

. The term was coined by

John Money John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender. Money advanced the use of more accur ...

and has not been widely adopted by

sexologists Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

, who instead use terms that refer to the specific age range in question. An arguable historical precursor was

Richard von Krafft-Ebing Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work '' Psychopath ...

's concept of "age fetishism". Importantly, chronophilia are technically not determined by age itself, but by human sexual maturity stages, such as body type, secondary sexual characteristics and other visible features, particularly as measured by the stages of the

Tanner scale The Tanner scale (also known as the Tanner stages or sexual maturity rating (SMR)) is a scale of physical development as pre-pubescent children transition into adolescence, and then adulthood. The scale defines physical measurements of devel ...

Preferences based on age

*Romantic and/or sexual attraction/preference to minors ** Pedohebephilia refers to an expansion and reclassification of pedophilia and hebephilia with subgroups, proposed during the development of the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiat ...

. It refers more broadly to sexual attractions. Under the proposed revisions, people who are dysfunctional as a result of it would be diagnosed with pedohebephilic disorder. People would be broken down into types based on the idea of being fixated on one, the other or both of the subgroups. The proposed revision was not ratified for inclusion in the final published version of DSM-5. ***

Infantophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puber ...

(sometimes called ''nepiophilia'') is a subtype of pedophilia describing a sexual attraction on children less than 5 years old (including

toddler A toddler is a child approximately 1 to 3 years old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, as children at thi ...

s and

infants In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

). ***

Pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...

is a

psychological disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a romantic and/or sexual attraction to prepubescent youth. (Around 5-12 years of age)World Health Organization
''International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems: ICD-10''
Section F65.4: Pedophilia (online access via ICD-10 site map table of contents) According to the fifth edition of the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a com ...

(DSM-5), pedophilia is a

in which a person has intense sexual urges towards children, and experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and

fantasies Fantasy is a genre of fiction. Fantasy, Fantasie, or Fantasies may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Fantasia (music), a free-form musical composition * ''Fantasie'' (Widmann), a 1993 composition for solo clarinet by Jörg Widmann * ...

about children. Pedophilic disorder is further defined as psychological disorder in which a person meets the criteria for pedophilia above, and also either acts upon those urges, or else experiences distress or interpersonal difficulty as a consequence. The diagnosis can be made under the DSM or

ICD The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used medical classification that is used in epidemiology, health management and clinical diagnostics, diagnosis. The ICD is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO), which ...

criteria for persons age 16 and older. (see F65.4, pp. 166–167) **Attraction to adolescents ***

Hebephilia Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia (the primary or exclusi ...

is a romantic and/or sexual attraction on early-pubescent youths in Tanner Stages 2 and 3 (around ages 9–14). ***

Ephebophilia Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19 and showing Tanner stages 4 to 5 of physical development. The term was originally used in the late 19th to mid-20th century. It is one of a number of ...

is a romantic/sexual attraction on late-pubescent youths in Tanner Stage 4 (around ages 14–21).Blanchard, R., Lykins, A. D., Wherrett, D., Kuban, M. E., Cantor, J. M., Blak, T., Dickey, R., & Klassen, P. E. (2008). Pedophilia, hebephilia, and the DSM–V. ''Archives of Sexual Behavior.'' . The term ''hebephilia'' was introduced by Bernard Glueck in 1955. Ephebophilia is not classified as a paraphilia, due to overlaps with teleiophilia and overlaps and similarities between Tanner Stages 4 and 5. Forensic psychologist and sexologist Dr.

Michael Seto Michael Chikong Seto (; born 1967) is a Canadian forensic psychologist, sexologist, and author. He is director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, where his research focuses on pedophilia, sexual offenses co ...

has noted "older adolescents are reproductively viable and the fact that typically men are attracted to older adolescents, as reflected in self-report, psychophysiological, and pornography use studies (Freund, Seeley, Marshall, & Glinfort, 1972; Symons, 1979)". *Romantic and/or sexual attraction/preference to adults ** Teleiophilia (from Greek ''téleios'', "full grown") is a romantic and/or sexual preference for adults (around 18 to late 30s early 40s), specifically for adult body types, as it encompasses attraction towards postpubertals, the sexually mature. Dr.

states: "A sexual preference in those in late adolescence who show many signs of sexual maturity (Tanner stage 4) or who are sexually mature (Tanner stage 5) is not representative of hebephilia; instead, it can be described as ephebophilia or teleiophilia (Hames & Blanchard, 2012)." The term was coined by

Ray Blanchard Ray Milton Blanchard III ( ; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist who researches pedophilia, sexual orientation and Transgender, gender identity. He has found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay than m ...

in 2000 and has seen less public adoption than some newer terms. ** Mesophilia (derived from the Greek "mesos", "intermediate") is a romantic and/or sexual preference for middle-aged adults (around late 40s and 60s). The term was coined by

in 2016. ** Gerontophilia is a romantic and/or sexual preference for the elderly. (70s+)

References

{{Pedophilia

Preferences based on age

See also

References