Understanding Infantilism (.org)
Surveys have led to a much more detailed picture of the AB/DL community overall. While it would be easier to assert some one archetype as typical of all AB/DL individuals, this would be an oversimplification. Instead of telling them who they ought to be, the surveys ask them who they are. This has shown a number of trends, but also many exceptions.
Thomas John Speaker's 1980 Masters thesis, Sexual Infantilism in Adults: Causes and Treatment, explored the social and medical context of what would later be called paraphilic infantilism and/or diaper fetishism. In it, he argued that paraphilias were seen as debilitating because mental health professionals only saw individuals with serous problems. To make this point, Tom Speaker contacted a number of ordinary AB/DLs, many without serous problems. He expanded this work in his doctoral dissertation Psychosexual infantilism in Adults: The eroticization of regression.
From 1998 though 2004, Dave's Diaper Survey gathered responses online over email. The results were hosted at geocities, but now remain available as archives mirrored at the Wayback Machine.
Much less formal attempts to estimate the size of the AB/DL population have also occurred. One undertaken by Enfant Mel is notable, but mainly due to its age.
This was the first of a series of four AB/DL surveys conducted by Understanding Infantilism. Data collection is complete and analysis is largely complete. The goal of this survey was to get a better idea of how alike AB/DL individuals were and how they fit into the larger fetish and BDSM communities. It was also intended to provide some initial information that could be used to develop later surveys. This background might also have been helpful to the surveys by others.
Summary results: the basics, important aspects, joys texts, childhood, events texts, struggles, messages texts, roleplay, sex, and election
Distributions: Beyond documenting some 'average' AB/DL, three sets of analyses explored the distributions. The Range Between AB and DL explored how the interests in wetting/messing, roleplay, regression, and sexuality vary among AB/DLs. Mapping Paraphilic Infantilism and Diaper Fetishes attempted to visualize the populations based on the importance of themes such as control, babyhood, and sexuality.
Cause and Effect:Three sets of analyses sought to display differing causes by contrasting the effects. AB/DLs in Diapers Already showed that AB/DL individuals who were in diapers due to extended bedwetting, etc., were not that different from those who weren't. Girls, Boys, and Diapers showed that girls whose desires developed early were similar to males in specific ways. In contrast, women whose desires developed latter differed; notably, they tended not to be interested in diapers. Trauma and Exposure Among AB/DLs displayed a marked contrast between AB/DL participants who reported "always" having their desires, and those who associated the start of their desires with exposure to AB/DL stories, pictures, etc. Together, these studies suggest a common pool of causes for most AB/DLs, but clearly not a singular cause for all AB/DLs.
This survey explored one thing central to AB/DLs, and some things that aren't.
Summary results: the basics; birth order; siblings texts; masochism, crossdressing, furry fandom, fetishism; interests texts; associated conditions; conditions texts; changes over time; changing aspects texts; diapers, diapers, diapers; and fantasy diaper texts.
Two studies showed that the desires of AB/DL inviduals were influenced by, but not determined by, their childhood. Diaper Preference among AB/DLs showed that the type of diaper that an AB/DL prefers in fantasy isn't necessarily the type he or she wore as a baby. Birthorder of AB/DLs explored reasons why AB/DLs might come from large families, but showed that the probability of an only child becoming an AB/DL were higher.
A third study, Other Conditions Prevalent among AB/DLs showed that paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism were not the only influences on the desire for diapers and/or babyhood for a minority of AB/DL individuals. Incontinence was explored, as was Asperger's syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder.
A fourth study, Paraphilia and Kink, documented that the importance of various aspects of AB/DL games, scenes, and fantasies can change over time, and that new interests can be developed. Taking this a step further, Primacy of Diapers among AB/DLs showed that paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism might both be the result of a single condition, causing an initial diaper impulse which is then obscured by those changing interests.
This survey explored AB/DL practices.
Summary results: Basics; favorite media; media (texts) partners; coming out; coming out (texts) needing diapers; needing diapers (texts); significant others; significant others (texts)
Data from this survey showed that the favorite pictures, stories, and videos of AB/DLs include women the participant wants to be with, as well as men and babies the participant wants to be like, but are not limited to these two modes.
The fourth and last survey of the series covered a number of big and little items, rounding out the other surveys.
Summary results: basics; memories; ways to help(texts); life outside; practices and paraphernalia; the giant practices lists(texts); favorite items and activities(texts);
Data from this survey showed that those who became AB/DLs and completed the survey were disproportionately white and raised within the Western culture.
Just as the AB/DL survey project built on the work of others, it has helped other projects. In 2012, the late Dr. Brian Zamboni conducted the first large scale survey of the AB/DL community in medical literature. This led to six papers authored or co-authored by him, which are collectively the most significant body of work on the AB/DL community in medical literature to date. They were published from 2014 to 2019. There are also three dissertations that have used the data from this study.
Brian also inspired me to work towards a more direct involvement in peer-reviewed medical literature. This included helping a team led by Dr. Johannes Fuss. Our 2019 paper, Self-reported childhood maltreatment and erotic target identity inversions among men with paraphilic infantilism, documented that the prevalence of pedophilic interests in the AB/DL community was comparable to that of the general population. This observation was largely replicated by a 2023 paper by Kevin J. Hsu and J. Micheal Bailey, Sexual Orientation, Sexual Motivation, and Erotic Target Identity Inversions in Male Adult Baby/Diaper Lovers, where they observed that masochism is a promising explanation for the motivation of AB/DL individuals. (Most of their other studies were based on samples from pedophilic communities instead of the AB/DL community.)
Fuss et al. (2019) asked all participants about their own histories of abuse and neglect, and observed a high prevalence. This result was larger than that observed in Trauma and Exposure Among AB/DLs and by Dr. Jennie Hilleren in her 2018 dissertation based on data from Dr. Zamboni's study, which asked participants about their beliefs about the personal and general causes of AB/DL desires, respectively.
The 2014 doctoral dissertation of Rhoda J. Lipscomb, which is shared with permission (also available in PDF) explored the benefits that therapy might provide to AB/DL individuals.
Dr. Matt Sevier's 2023 paper reported a self-perception of improved mental health among adult babies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Last Update: 15 June 2024| First 7 June 2006
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