Pedophilia
Medical researchers do not know how many people in the population are pedophiles. This is because it is hard to study people's feelings and desires unless they actually show that they have those feelings. Generally, the only pedophiles who can be studied are those who have both broken the law and been caught and convicted of child sexual abuse. A second reason is that when an adult or mid-to-late teenager sexually abuses a child, people often call the abuser a "pedophile", but it is possible that the abuse happened for a different reason, such as the unavailability of an adult partner. Experts generally define a person as a pedophile only if they are primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. If a person sexually abuses a pre-pubescent child to frighten or punish them, for example, then it may not be true pedophile behavior.