Family Size, Birth Order, and Parental Age Among Male Paraphilics and Sex Offenders

A sample of 1823 male paraphilics, sex offenders, and non-sex offender controls were compared on family size, birth order, and parents’ ages at the time of the probands’ births. Sample data were also compared to population data from Statistics Canada. The men in all groups were from larger than average Canadian families and they tended to be later born. Paraphilics and sex offenders had even larger families than offender controls. Their parents tended to be older at their birth with 34.2% of mothers and 51.3% of fathers over 30 years of age, but there were no statistically significant subgroup differences. There were also significantly more multiparous teenage mothers than expected and more paraphilics’ fathers who were younger than the mothers, both factors associated in the literature with increased risk of perinatal complications and abnormalities. The confounding influences of parental age, birth order, and family size were examined and indicated the need for large samples and multivariate analysis in evaluating the role of family variables associated with paraphilics and sex offenders.