Viewing child pornography: Prevalence and correlates in a representative community sample of young Swedish men

Most research on child pornography use has been basedonselected clinical or criminal justice samples;riskfactors for child pornography use in the general population remain largely unexplored. In this study, we examined prevalence, risk factors,andcorrelates of viewingdepictions of adult–child sex in a population-representative sample of 1,978 young Swedish
men(17–20 years,Mdn=18 years, overall response rate,77 %). In an anonymous, school-based survey, participants self-reported sexual coercion xperiences, attitudes and beliefs about sex, perceived peer attitudes, and sexual interests and behaviors; including pornography use, sexual interest in children, and sexually coercive behavior. A total of 84 (4.2 %) young men
reported they had ever viewed child pornography. Most theorybased variables were moderately and significantly associated with child pornography viewing and were consistent with models of sexual offending implicating both antisociality and sexual deviance. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, 7 of 15 tested factors independently predicted child pornography
viewing and explained 42%of the variance: ever had sex with a male, likely to have sex with a child aged 12–14, likely to have sexwith a child 12 or less, perception of children as seductive, having friends who have watched child pornography, frequent pornography use, and ever viewed violent pornography. From these, a 6-item Child Pornography Correlates Scale was constructed and then cross-validated in a similar but independent Norwegian sample.