Study finds 10.2% of adult men in Spain admit sexual conduct against minors

Prevalence among adult men

A study by the Universitat de Barcelona's research group on child and adolescent victimisation (GReVIA) found that 10.2% of adult men in Spain acknowledge having carried out at least one sexual violence behaviour against people under 18 at some point in their lives. The group presented the findings on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, in Madrid, describing it as the first study of its kind at national level in Spain. Respondents were asked directly about their own conduct, rather than relying on complaints or judicial statistics. Broken down by the age of the victim, the prevalence is 2.8% for behaviours involving under-15s and 1.7% for under-12s. Across the sample, 3.4% said at least one of these behaviours occurred in the past 12 months.

Under 121.7%

Under 152.8%

Under 1810.2%

Under 12

1.7 %

Under 15

2.8 %

Under 18

10.2 %

Data from the article text

Method and programme

The survey covered 6,010 adult men living across Spain, with an average age of 48.3 years. It was carried out within the international Prevention Global programme, led by the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins University in the United States and by the Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal in Canada. Results were presented during a session titled 'From prevalence to prevention: attraction and sexual violence against children and adolescents'. Pablo Romero of the VICRIM research group, who co-directed the research, took part in presenting the work.

Attraction and conduct measured apart

The study's central choice is to measure sexual attraction towards under-16s separately from actual perpetration, two phenomena that public debate often confuses. Some 22.2% of participants said they had felt some degree of sexual attraction to under-16s since reaching adulthood. For most of them this attraction is infrequent and secondary to attraction to adults: 12.3% said it occurs 'almost never', while 1.9% said they experience it most of the time or always. Attraction exclusively to minors, with no attraction to adults, accounts for 0.3% of the sample.

Almost never12.3%

Most of the time or always1.9%

Exclusively attracted to minors0.3%

Almost never

12.3 %

Most of the time or always

1.9 %

Exclusively attracted to minors

0.3 %

Data from the article text

Attraction does not mean abuse

Researchers stress that feeling attraction does not necessarily mean abuse has occurred, and that it cannot justify any conduct. Of the men who reported attraction, 72.8% did not report any sexual violence against children or adolescents. The two phenomena are statistically associated, and men with attraction are significantly more likely to report such behaviour, yet the relationship is not automatic. Pablo Romero, co-director of the research, put the implication this way:

“That most people who report attraction have not committed any sexual violence does not lessen the seriousness of the problem: it tells us where and when we can intervene.”

He added that early, confidential help is a measure of child protection.

A shift in prevention focus

The authors use the distinction to argue for a change of emphasis in child protection policy. Much prevention work has so far targeted children, teaching them to recognise dangerous situations and protect themselves. The study's framing points instead to identifying possible risk situations and intervening before harm occurs. The researchers present separating attraction from conduct as the basis for that shift.