The Motivation-Facilitation Model of Sexual Offending

“The motivation facilitation model, for example, suggests that antisocial personality traits will play an important role in the concordance of paraphilias involving criminalized behavior (Seto, 2019).”

“This means that when it is present, risk of offending is raised as sexual preference acts as an intrinsic motivator for sexual behavior (Seto, 2019).”

“Antisocial dispositions represent another prime (nonsexual) risk factor for sexual or any other form of offending (Seto, 2019).”

“…between these groups may allow for a more nuanced understanding of potential protective factors that exist among men who may be motivated to sexually abuse young people, yet appear able to desist from contact sexual abuse (see the motivation-facilitation model of sexual offending; Seto, 2017).”

“This is largely due to the theoretical link between minor attraction and sexual offending against children (Finkelhor, 1984; Seto, 2018a, 2019; Ward & Beech, 2006), but more recently has been driven by an acknowledgement that many minor-attracted persons (MAPs) live offense-free within the…”

“Because network analyses provide insight in the interrelations among risk factors and possible shortest pathways to (sexual) offending behavior, without the need for a priori assumptions, they can be used to contribute to the further development of theories on sex offending (e.g., Malamuth & Hald, 2016; Malamuth et al…”

“…have been found in relation to child sexual exploitation material, with there being no direct evidence for a link between the consumption of sexually explicit materials depicting children and subsequent engagement in abusive behaviors (Diamond et al., 2011; Seto & Eke, 2005; Seto et al., 2011).”

“We do not think that this would be appropriate, and this would not necessarily be in line with established theories of wider sexual offending, such as contact offenses or viewing child pornography (e.g., Finkelhor, 1984; Seto, 2019; Ward & Siegert, 2002).”

“…such as the preconditions model (Finkelhor, 1984), either of two integrated theories (Marshall & Barbaree, 1990; Ward & Beech, 2006), the quadripartite model (Hall & Hirschman, 1991), the pathways model (Ward & Siegert, 2002), and most recently the motivation-facilitation model (Seto, 2019).”

“This does not necessarily apply to borderline PD; however, among the core symptoms of borderline PD are impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, highly relevant etiological factors for violence.66 In addition, previous research about nonoffending patients with borderline PD found regulation deficiencies for sexual beh…”

“…dimensions associated with the onset and persistence of sexual offending—an antisocial orientation and an atypical sexuality (e.g., Brouillette-Alarie, Babchishin, Hanson, & Helmus, 2016; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005; Olver et al., 2016; Seto, 2008, 2017)—and thus may be defined as criminogenic.”

“…which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. specific chronophilic categories (Blanchard, 2010; Lievesley et al., 2020; Stephens, Cantor, Goodwill, & Seto, 2017; Stephens, Seto, Cantor, & Lalumière, 2019).”

“However, it has been hypothesized that higher self-control levels, less facilitation factors, and less access to children might distinguish CP offenders from contact sex offenders (Babchishin et al., 2015; Seto, 2019).”

“…regarding atypical sexual interests in AIV, and the key role atypical interests plays in adult sexual recidivism (Hanson and Morton-Bourgon 2005; Seto 2019), it seems that atypical sexual interests, and likely sexuality more broadly, is an important domain to better understand intrafamilial and…”

“Minor-attracted persons (MAPs) express sexual attractions to children that can be classified into an age-graded theory of several chronophilic categories (Seto, 2017).”

“Extant research has demonstrated that cognitive restructuring approaches are effective for reducing physiological and subjective sexual arousal (Shafir et al., 2018; Winters et al., 2009) and that dispositional mindfulness may buffer the risk of alcohol-involved sexual aggression (Gallagher et al.,…”

“…aged 0 to 11, hebephilia as those with a sexual interest in children aged 12 to 14, and ephebophilia as those with a sexual interest in ages 15 to 18, recognizing that age is an imperfect proxy of pubertal status (Tanner, 1990) and thus the relevant chronophilia (age attraction; see Seto, 2017).”

“The motivationfacilitation model for sexual offending (Seto, 2019) suggests that pedophilic interest and hypersexuality are motivational factors, antisocial behavior trait factors, and impaired self-control a state factor.”

“Thornton’s TDR has the advantage that dynamic risk factors can more easily be incorporated in it, relative to alternative theoretical approaches such as the Motivation-Facilitation model (Seto, 2019).”

“In this context, the motivation-facilitation model (MFM) of sexual offending offers a useful framework for understanding the risk factors for sexual offending.(19) Specifically, the MFM consists of primary sexual motivations (consisting of paraphilias, high or poorly regulated sex drive, and significant effort devoted…”

“…aligned with an existing deviant sexual interest (Noorishad, Levaque, Byers, & Shaughnessy, 2019) and deviant sexual fantasizing has been found to be an etiological factor for sexual offending (Seto, 2019) as well as a key risk factor for sexual recidivism (Mann, Hanson, & Thornton, 2010).”

“…amount of change for pedohebephilic preferences is clinically achievable at all remains at present as much an open empirical question as how much change of pedohebephilic preferences is necessary to reduce recidivism risk in the subgroup of MSOC who exhibit pedohebephilic preferences (Seto, 2019).”

“empirically-supported (Deming & Jennings, 2020) and risk-needs-responsivity approach (Bates-Maves & O’Sullivan, 2017; Deming & Jennings, 2020; Jung, 2017) that seeks to understand the unique factors which motivate and facilitate offending (Seto, 2019).”

“Additionally, increases in stress, social isolation, and downtime may be facilitative of increases in CSEM offending (Seto, 2019).”

“Risk markers (or risk factors) for sexual offending against children vary but are often partitioned into sexuality related (also referred to as “sexual deviancy”) and general criminality related (Brouillette-Alarie, Babchishin, Hanson, & Helmus, 2016; Seto, 2017).”

“…example, population estimates of sexual interests in children range from 0.1–5% depending on the operational definition of ‘child’, with the prevalence of interests in younger children at the lower end of this range and attractions to teenagers being more common (Dombert et al., 2016; Seto, 2017).”

“Other risk factors may be specific to individuals at a point in time – such as if a person is already in a sexually aroused state (Taylor & Quayle, 2008), is intoxicated (Balfe et al., 2015), or is alone (Seto, 2019).”

“While the literature suggests that most CSEM users are motivated by pedophilic/ hebephilic sexual interests (Henshaw, Ogloff, & Clough, 2017; Merdian, Curtis, Thakker, Wilson, & Boer, 2013; Seto, 2019; Seto et al., 2010), some studies point toward a subgroup of CSEM users motivated by the collection process itself (Me…”

“Not only traits, but also attitudes were assumed to facilitate sexual aggression, particularly rape myths acceptance, hostility against women, or high mating effort.(6,13,36) Attitudes towards one’s sexual fantasies were related to sexual fantasies(13): There were consistent negative relations between negative feeling…”

“, increase their sense of “wanting”), thus preparing them for engagement in sexually appetitive behavior (8, 9).”

“…in Canada as part of a programme of research on sexual arousal to sexual scenarios involving violence (Chivers, Roy, Grimbos, Cantor, & Seto, 2014; Fairweather, Kingston, & Lalumière, 2016; Lalumière, Fairweather, Harris, Suschinsky, & Seto, 2017; Seto, Lalumière, Harris, & Chivers, 2012).”

“…systematic review that demonstrated some key components of the MFM, but there is no great exploration into the relevant strait and trait dimensions as highlighted by Seto (2019), such as individual differences, self-control, and cognitive distortions (Ciardha & Ward, 2013; Szumski et al., 2018).”

“Thus, individuals who have pedophilia or hebephilia are at greater risk of sexual offenses involving children (Seto, 2019).”

“Considering that deviant sexual interests are a significant risk factor in sexual offending (Seto, 2019; Tharp et al., 2013; Thornton, 2002) and one of the strongest predictors of sexual recidivism (Hanson & Bussière, 1998; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005), interventions that target sexual fantasies as part of preventin…”

“…minor attraction is a known risk factor for both first-time and recidivistic offending behavior (Gannon et al., 2019; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005; Seto, 2017a, 2018), this population rarely has access to services designed to reduce these and other risk factors and to increase protective factors…”

“Recently, Seto suggested that the MFM could be applicable to non-contact sexual offenses such as exhibitionism and voyeurism (Seto, 2019).”

“Relatively many theories exist that explain the etiology of sexual offending, each including sexual deviance as an important developmental factor for sexual offenses (e.g., Huppin et al., 2019; Seto, 2019; Ward & Beech, 2006).”

“, public sex acts) and the motivation for sex crimes may differ from other violent and nonviolent crimes (Seto, 2019).”

“Alcohol consumption for both the offender and victim was significantly more common in adult cases and is a well-established risk factor in the literature (Seto, 2019).”

“…Future studies are needed to determine whether VT tasks can be used to detect interest in sexual offending against adults, as well as other sexual interests (see also, Lalumière et al., 2018), particularly paraphilias, which are also linked to various forms of sexual offending (Seto, 2017a, b).”

“This was unexpected given the literature which identifies antisociality as a key risk factor for child sexual offending (Klein et al., 2015; Seto, 2019).”

“Associations with different levels of access to minors were, however, either poor or non-existent, highlighting the need for further examination of the kinds of access to minors, especially given that opportunities facilitate sexual offending behaviors against minors (Babchishin et al., 2015; Seto, 2019; Stephens et a…”

“Although research links pedophilia (as one form of minor attraction) as a motivator for CSA (Seto, 2019) and to recurrent sexual offending behavior (Stephens et al., 2017), minor attraction toward children does not necessarily lead to CSA.”

“It has been suggested that the MFM could also be applied to CSAM offenders (Seto, 2019).”

“The current prediction models indicate that substance use disorders and other mental disorders could possibly be a target of therapeutic interventions to reduce the risk of reoffending in men convicted of sexual crimes (Kraanen & Emmelkamp, 2011; Pickard & Fazel, 2013; Seto, 2019).”

“Pornography consumption, particularly the kind that features children, can be a reflection of a high sex drive (Seto, Reeves, & Jung, 2010), one of the motivations associated with sexual offending (Seto, 2019).”

“Direct associations between hypersexuality and sexual coercion indicate that this factor should be considered an independent risk factor for sexual coercion (Seto, 2019).”

“…between motivating factors (such as paraphilia or high sex drive) that may lead to sexual o ff ences on the one hand and facilitators (e.g. self-control or hostile masculinity) that interact with the motivating factors to either inhibit or encourage sexual o ff ences on the other hand (Seto, 2019).”