A survey in the Czech Republic found that individuals who had poor relationships with their parents were more likely to have violent paraphilic sexual interests. The study suggests this association is mediated by insecure attachment, particularly by preoccupied and fearful-avoidant attachment styles. The research was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Paraphilic interests are persistent, intense patterns of sexual arousal involving objects, situations, or individuals that are atypical or outside culturally accepted norms. These interests can include fantasies, urges, or behaviors directed toward non-consenting persons, nonhuman objects, or specific acts.

Paraphilic interests are not automatically considered mental health disorders. They become paraphilic disorders only when they lead to significant personal distress, functional impairment, or involve harm to non-consenting individuals. Many paraphilic interests are not harmful, such as various fetishes, when they are consensual and not distressing.

On the other hand, some individuals have violent paraphilic interests, which involve sexual arousal linked to inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others or oneself. These include paraphilias such as sexual sadism, sexual masochism, and biastophilia (arousal from coercive sex). In individuals with violent paraphilic interests, the element of control, domination, or aggression is often a central source of arousal.

Study author Ellen Zakreski and her colleagues wanted to explore the relationship between the quality of one’s childhood relationship with parents and the presence of violent paraphilic interests in adulthood. They hypothesized that individuals who had worse relationships with their parents would be more likely to develop insecure attachment styles, which would, in turn, contribute to the development of violent paraphilic interests.

Participants were recruited as part of the project “Love and Intimacy in the Czech Republic” in early 2020. The sample was drawn by the sociodemographic agency STEM/MARK from two large Czech research panels. The study included two groups: one from the general population and a second group pre-screened for high levels of violent paraphilic interests.

Participants completed an anonymous survey with assessments of their violent paraphilic interests, the quality of their relationship with each parent during the first 12 years of life, and their attachment style (using the Relationship Questionnaire).

The assessment of violent paraphilic interests asked participants to rate how sexually arousing they found scenarios that included the immobilization of an unsuspecting man or woman, chasing and raping a stranger, and sadomasochistic activities involving humiliation or inflicting pain.

Attachment styles are often understood along two dimensions: attachment anxiety (fear of abandonment) and attachment avoidance (discomfort with closeness). These dimensions combine to form distinct styles: secure (low anxiety and avoidance), preoccupied (high anxiety, low avoidance), dismissive-avoidant (low anxiety, high avoidance), and fearful-avoidant (high anxiety and avoidance). The latter three are considered insecure attachment styles.

In total, 1600 participants (782 women) with an average age of about 51 completed the survey.

The results supported the researchers’ hypothesis. Lower-quality parental relationships were associated with higher levels of violent paraphilic interests. This relationship was significantly mediated by two specific insecure attachment styles: preoccupied and fearful-avoidant. In contrast, secure and dismissive-avoidant attachment styles were not significantly associated with violent paraphilic interests.

The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that poor relationships with parents contribute to insecure attachment, which in turn contributes to violent paraphilic interests. Their results showed this model was a good fit for the data.

“Our findings indicate that insecure attachment styles, particularly those that involve anxiety of rejection, may be part of the mechanism linking poor parental bonds and violent paraphilic interest, but the causal nature of these effects cannot be confirmed based on cross-sectional observational data,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on potential psychological factors underpinning violent paraphilic interests. However, it should be noted that the associations, while statistically significant in a large sample, may represent small-to-moderate effects. Additionally, the study’s cross-sectional design does not allow for any causal conclusions to be drawn from the results.

The paper, “Preoccupied and Fearful‑Avoidant Attachment Styles May Mediate the Relationship Between Poor Parental Relationship Quality and Sexual Interests in Violence,” was authored by Ellen Zakreski, Sara Jahnke, Renáta Androvičová, Klára Bártová, Agatha Chronos, Lucie Krejčová, Lenka Martinec Nováková, and Kateřina Klapilová.