Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents , generally ages 15 to Ephebophilia strictly denotes the preference for mid-to-late adolescent sexual partners, not the mere presence of some level of sexual attraction.
In research environments, specific terms are used for chronophilias: for instance, ephebophilia to refer to the sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, hebephilia to refer to the sexual preference for earlier pubescent individuals, and pedophilia to refer to the primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children.
The term was additionally revived by Ray Blanchard to denote men who sexually prefer to year-olds. Although ephebophilia is not a psychiatric diagnosis, [ 2 ] the term pedophilia is commonly used by the general public and the media, at least in the English-speaking world, to refer to any sexual interest by significantly older adults in minors below the local age of consent , regardless of their level of physical or mental development.
Mid-to-late adolescents typically have physical characteristics near or identical to that of legal adults. Seto argue that ephebophilia contrasts what a paraphilia entails since "older adolescents are reproductively viable and the fact that typically men are sexually attracted to older adolescents, as reflected in self-report, psychophysiological , and pornography use studies.
Some men who become involved with teenagers may not have a particular disorder. Opportunity and other factors may have contributed to their behaving in the way they do". It's not unusual for a typical year-old to be attractive to many men and the younger we go the fewer and fewer men are attracted to that age group.
