"Males who have not experienced secure attachment may be vulnerable to placating intimacy needs by engaging in pedophilic behaviour(Ward, Hudson,&Marshall, 1996), particularly when interpersonal stressors such as relationship dissolution, rejection, and separation threaten their intimacy needs."
"Pedophiles may be characterised by different styles of insecure attachment [...] and it is possible that being sexually abused in childhood may contribute to the development of attachment insecurity."
"Attachment theory proposes that the person who is securely attached is more resilient to developmental stressors than the insecurely attached person (Masten & O’Connor, 1989). From this perspective, the current study has produced evidence that secure attachment is salient to breaking the link between being abused and progressing to sexually offending against children. The current findings provide some explanation as to why some victims become offenders and some do not."
Adult Attachment Style and Pedophilia: A Developmental Perspective, Gary A. Sawle, Jon Kear-Colwell. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2001.
