Operationalizing chronophilia: A framework for age-based sexual preference classification

Abstract

In response to pedophilia 's continued conflation with child sexual abuse (CSA) and in an effort to increase access to support, terms such as minor-attracted person (MAP) and child-attracted person (CAP) have come into use in online communities, been promoted by some advocacy groups, and slowly entered academic contexts. In theory and practice, however, these terms can obscure distinctions that are critical for understanding and addressing CSA when the relevant developmental category is not specified, when it is unclear whether interest or preference is meant, and when the degree of classificatory certainty is not indicated. To address this, I make the case for preserving established chronophilic terminology while consolidating and extending it into a more explicit framework for classification and reporting. The proposed Chronophilia Framework (a) makes developmental typicality distinctions explicit while treating their precise boundaries as empirically revisable; (b) recalibrates approximate age ranges to better align with Tanner stages while emphasizing the limitations of age and Tanner stage as proxies for target development; (c) introduces neoteleiophilia for Tanner Stage 5 targets aged 15–17, alongside higher-order classifications for developmentally atypical and broader under-18 chronophilic patterns; and (d) provides guidelines for classifying and reporting incompletely localized and hybrid profiles, as well as known broad preference ranges, in CSA-relevant research. The framework is offered to improve classification clarity and consistency while acknowledging the ethical concerns, prevention aims, and supportive intentions that have accompanied many uses of MAP and CAP.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Acta Psychologica, 2026 · DOI ↗