Anatomy of a child molester: well, he tends to be short

Pedophilia has been linked to IQ, education, and even handedness—and a new study adds height to the mix. Pedophiles, are, on average, two centimeters shorter than non-pedophiles, according to research published by the University of Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health. But does this tell us anything about the psychology of a child molester? Actually, it may.

It turns out that other mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, have been tied to shortness too, and studies have shown that cognitive function also tends to decline with height. So perhaps height is, in some bizarre way, correlated to mental function.

The next question, of course, is of the chicken-and-egg type: does mental illness somehow lead to stunted growth, or vice versa? It's likely that the answer is "neither"—another underlying problem, either genetic or environmental, probably causes both. It could be that a single gene or set of linked genes is to blame, and / or that mental illness and stunted growth are caused by early developmental insults. After all, schizophrenia has been tied not only to genetic factors but also to environmental factors that interfere with brain development, such as prenatal infections. So while the fact that child molesters tend to be shorter than non-child molesters doesn't tell us a whole lot about the pedophile's brain, the fact that pedophilia shares a height correlation with two other brain illnesses suggests that the disorder might be biological in nature—in the sense that it, like schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, could be tied to abnormal brain chemistry or structure.

That said, if the the psychopathology of pedophilia is anywhere near as complex as that of schizophrenia, it'll be decades before we know anything for sure. Until then, short guys might want to brace themselves for wary looks from their neighbors.

As if they didn't have it bad enough already.