Primacy of Diapers among AB/DLs

Traditionally, the Adult Baby and/or Diaper Lover (AB/DL) population was attributed mainly to two separate conditions, diaper fetishism and paraphilic infantilism. Diaper fetishism was diaper-focused and traditionally associated with diaper lovers (DLs), while paraphilic infantilism focused on being a baby and traditionally associated with adult babies (ABs). However, the AB/DL population doesn't show the separation that would be consistent with two separate conditions.

Both conditions are diagnosed by interest. However interests have been shown to develop or change over time: An AB/DL's current interests might be broader and more complicated than his or her initial desires. This explains how two populations might have converged into the observed continuum, or how one population could have diverged to the same result. The latter possibility is explored in this analysis.

To do so, data from two surveys were used explore the development of interests and define a first condition. Then, contrasting populations were isolated and support for contrasting conditions was sought.

This analysis suggested a widespread primacy of the intimate properties of the diaper; the importance of the feeling, sound, and smell. In contrast, the data suggested that other aspects - sex, control, and babyhood - were not of widespread importance and were diverging. The basic impulse might then become complicated by acquired importances of sex, control, and babyhood. Possibly influenced by pervasive cultural concepts such as the helpless baby in diapers and the sexually innocent baby, the interests would drift into clusters, including two nodes matching the traditional definitions of paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism.

Contrasting populations - those who reported sex, control, or babyhood as more important than the feeling, sound, and smell of diapers - were also explored. The possibility of other AB/DL-specific conditions was not ruled out. However the data suggests that other AB/DL-specific conditions were not necessary to explain most of the AB/DL population.

Edit 30 December 2016: This paper was updated as part of the tenth year standards update. This update included implementing more conservative significance testing. Mainly as a result, previous trends in conditions and criterion B ceased to be statistically significant. Discussion of these, and some other extraneous discussion, were cut for brevity. Data from the second survey was preferentially used for clarity. Previously, data from the first survey was preferred, due to its larger sample size, but this resulted in mixing first and second survey data in Figure 3. In Figure 2, using data from the second survey resulted in more even sex ratios between groups. Section titles were changed and text moved to match APA guidelines. The methods section was expanded and a paragraph on limitations was added.

Traditional AB/DL groupings are binary. Many sources attribute the desires to either paraphilic infantilism or diaper fetishism. These two conditions are traditionally distinct: The former focuses on being a baby, while the other is strictly focused on diapers. Diaper fetishism has been associated with Diaper Lovers (DLs). Paraphilic infantilism has been associated with Adult Babies (ABs). Some assert a binary division between the two groups. In particular, adult babies are sometimes quite vocal that they do not have diaper fetishes. However, it has been shown that the community is not divisible into two isolated populations, but that there is a continuum between the two (e.g. Hawkinson & Zamboni, 2014; Grey, 2006).

The first survey of the AB/DL Survey Series gathered data on five aspects of AB/DL games scenes, and fantasies: 1) the feeling, sound, and smell of diapers; 2) sexuality; 3) the transfer of control; 4) being a baby; and 5) diapers as a convenience. Participants were asked to rank the current importance of each at one of five levels; Very Important (VI), Important (I), OK, Tolerable (T), or Must Be Absent (MBA). This, and the later second survey, were composed and posted to the Internet at the author's website, Understanding.Infantilism.Org. They were announced to a number of email and web-based AB/DL communities.

The analysis presented in "Mapping Paraphilic Infantilism and Diaper Fetishes" focused on only three aspects (sex, control, and babyhood) because the importance of the other two were widespread among AB/DLs. Assuming a few conditions caused the desires of the AB/DL community, that study sought to differentiate populations to learn more about those few causes. It showed limited clustering into several nodes (Grey, 2007).

The second survey of the AB/DL Survey Series also asked the participant to, going as far back as he or she could remember, report on if the importance of each aspect had increased, decreased, or remained the same. Since matching responses from the first and second surveys would be problematic, the second survey repeated questions on the current importance of the aspects. The second survey also gathered data on a range of established conditions. Analysis of this data showed that the interests of a minority of AB/DLs can be explained by a number established conditions, such as incontinence (Grey, 2010).

Analysis of the second survey's data on changes over time suggested that interests commonly change, generally becoming more complex (Grey, 2012). Given these changes, it is possible that the AB/DL population, traditionally attributed to paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism, might be explainable without a plurality of AB/DL-specific conditions. To explore this possibility, this analysis revisited that of Mapping Paraphilic Infantilism and Diaper Fetishes without neglecting the first aspect, the feeling, sound, and smell of diapers, and without assuming a plurality of AB/DL-specific conditions.

Method

This study mainly used data from the second of the AB/DL survey series, as previously detailed by the author (Grey, 2009b). The 64-question online survey was composed and posted to the Internet at the author's website, understanding.infantilism.org. The questions briefly explored interests, practices, and backgrounds of AB/DLs. The survey was announced to a number of email and web-based AB/DL communities. Participation was voluntary and anonymous.

A total of 997 responses were received for the second survey, excluding responses from potential minors and probable duplicates. Of these, 646 self-identified as AB/DLs and completed all the relevant questions. The questions relevant to this paper are self-identification on the AB-to-DL range (S2Q3); sex (S2Q4); masochism (S2Q22); specific and general conditions (S2Q31 through S2Q43), and the relationship between the participant's AB/DL interests and other conditions (S2Q44); and the importance and change in importance of various aspects (S2Q48-57).

To cover election, not addressed in the second survey, this study used data from the first of the AB/DL survey series. Similar to the second, this 38-question online survey was composed and posted to the Internet, as previously detailed by the author (Grey, 2006).

A total of 1489 responses were received for the first survey, excluding responses from minors and probable duplicates. Of these, 1297 self-identified as AB/DLs and completed all the relevant questions. The questions relevant to this paper are self-identification on the AB-to-DL range (S1Q4); the importance of aspects feeling/sound/smell (S1Q8), sex (S1Q9), control (S1Q10), babyhood (S1Q11); onset type (S1Q14); distress (S1Q19) and impairment (S1Q20); purging (S1Q31); and opt-in (S1Q36).

The results included here will be of AB/DLs only: While it would be interesting to contrast AB/DLs and non-AB/DLs, few non-AB/DLs completed the survey.

Chi-squared analysis was used to check specific pairs of multiple-choice questions for statistically significant independence. Post hoc, the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was used to test pairwise comparisons for significance within questions or question pairs that had shown a significant contrast. A 95% confidence and 5% false discovery rate was used.

Results and Discussion

This analysis will involve one persistent approximation, that acquired interests seldom become more important than innate desires. Individually, this may or may not be true. As shown by the following contrasts, this approximation was useful and expresses a trend, but might not be strong enough to be a valid generalization.

The survey data included the importance of five aspects relating to diapers and/or babyhood. Since the conditions being explored are not mere matters of practicality, 'convenience' will be omitted.

Initial Importance

Attempting to estimate the initial importance of the various aspects based on existing survey data is problematic. The second survey included questions on the present importance and the direction of the change in importance, but not the magnitude of the change. This limitation is clear in hindsight: Before the results from the second survey were available, changing importances were thought to be the exception, not the norm.

While a number of approaches could be used to attempt to estimate the initial importance, these would add complexity without adding certainty. It might be best to simply express the probable range.

For each aspect, Figure 1 shows two bars. The first bar shows the percentage of AB/DLs who reported the aspect to be of positive importance, either Important or Very Important. The second bar shows the percentage for negative importance, either Tolerable to Must Be Absent. The percentage reporting the aspects to be OK are not shown.

Each bar of Figure 1 is divided into three sections, based on the change in importance. From top to bottom, they are increasing, unchanged, and decreasing. For each positive bar, the initial importance would include the unchanged range, the decreasing range (which is still positive after the decrease) and an unknown amount of the increasing range (which may have been important before the increase). Because of this large, unknown range, it can not be stated with certainty that the feel, sound, and smell of diapers is initially most important. However, it comes the closest to being of general importance among the AB/DLs, more so than sex, control, or babyhood.

Similarly, the negative-importance bars are divided into three sections. However with these, the initial negative importance would include the unchanged range, the increasing range (still negative after the increase) and some of the decreasing range (which may have had negative importance before the decrease). Here the contrast between feeling, sound, and smell and the other aspects is more dramatic: As previously reported, the importances of sex, control, and babyhood are split and diverging (Grey, 2012).

This suggests that demographically, much of the division in terms of sex, control, and babyhood developed, as opposed to being inherent in any conditions widespread among the community. In contrast, feeling, sound, and smell has a widespread current importance and possibly a widespread initial importance.

This suggests a condition that drives a desire for diapers. Of the aspects surveyed, the feeling, sound, and smell of the diapers would be central. It is possible that other aspects, omitted from the surveys, might be more central. This desire would be initially separate from an importance of sex, control, or babyhood, but these might develop later. This development might be in childhood, as the pervasive concepts of helpless baby in diapers, sexually innocent baby, and intimate bedroom secrets exert influences. Eroticization during puberty or before also might occur. Alternatively, this might also be a cluster of similar conditions, or some bottleneck in development that concentrates the courses of dissimilar conditions into a similar set of results.

Calling this first condition a diaper fetish at this point in the analysis would be premature at best. For now, it might be best called the initial diaper impulse. The focus of the following analysis will be to demonstrate one or more contrasting conditions.

Relative Importance

Given the definition of the initial diaper impulse, and the approximation that acquired importance would seldom exceed innate desires, we can quickly separate the AB/DL population that embodies the initial diaper impulse from contrasting AB/DL populations which might best embody contrasting, AB/DL-specific conditions.

Figure 2 is a bar chart showing the AB/DL population distribution by most important aspect, and the percent female in each group.

Figure 2, Most Important Aspects. A bar chart showing the AB/DL population distribution by most important aspect, and for each most important aspect, the percent female who reported it. Groups include those who reported feel, smell, and sound of diapers (FSS), sex, control, and babyhood as most important, and those who reported FSS as tied with others for highest importance (FSS Tied). It is based on S2Q4 and S2Q48-55. Vertical lines show the standard error.

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the AB/DL population based on which of the four aspects they reported being most important. The two largest groups considered the feel, sound, and smell of diapers to be most important (FSS, N=182) or tied with others for highest importance (FSS Tied, N=297). These populations might be explained with the initial diaper impulse and the transition of interests. Four other groups, however, might embody contrasting conditions. Three groups respectively reported sex, control, and babyhood as most important (N=58, 25, and 37 respectively). For simplicity, we'll focus on the Sex, Control, and Babyhood groups. Another group, Other, included all other combinations (N=47). The percentage female did not vary significantly among the most important aspects, Χ²(4)=3.49, p=.5.

Based on data from the first survey, the reported onset type (S1Q14) did vary significantly among the groups, Χ²(20)=39.58, p=.006, after binning the sixth and seventh options for onset type to avoid small category values. Specifically, those in the Sex group were more likely than other AB/DLs to report having decided to add diapers or babyhood to existing practices or never having has an interest, post hoc, Χ²(1)=10.76, p=.001. Of the 27 participants who reported deciding to add diapers or babyhood to existing practices, 19% (5) were in the Sex group. In this, they might better exemplify kink more than paraphilia.

The probability that an AB/DL would report meeting Criterion B did not vary significantly among the groups Χ²(4)=7.18, p=.1. The probability of reporting binging and purging also did not vary significantly among the groups, Χ²(4)=3.28, p=.5. The reported beliefs on the ability to opt-in to being an AB/DL did vary Χ²(4)=9.82, p=.04. This was due to the FSS group, only 9% (41) of whom reported believing others could opt-in to being an AB/DL, post hoc Χ²(1)=8.22, p=.004.

The probability of reporting one or more of the specific conditions surveyed did not vary significantly between groups, Χ²(4)=1.32, p=.9. The conditions surveyed were epilepsy, long-term fecal incontinence/ uncontrolled soiling, long-term urinary incontinence/ uncontrolled wetting, some other physical disability, Asperger's Syndrome, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, some other developmental disorder, bipolar disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Dissociative Identity Disorder/ multiple personalities (DID), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and some other psychiatric disorder, excluding depression and developmental disorders. Additionally, the probability of participants reporting a relationship between any of these conditions and their desires also did not vary significantly between groups, Χ²(4)=4.44, p=.3.

Infantilism has been defined as a type of sexual masochism (APA, 2000). As shown in Figure 3, the sex group was close to meeting one element of traditional sexological definitions for paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism: 97% of those who reported sex being the most important aspect of their AB/DL fantasies and activities reported sex being Important or Very Important. As the group is defined by considering this aspect to be among the most important, this is not surprising. This percentage did vary significantly among the groups, Χ²(4)=124.93, p<.001. Given that the Sex group might exemplify kink more than paraphilia, this suggests than an importance of sex might not be a defining characteristic of infantilism. Arguably an underlying mechanism that is sexual might give rise to a desire that is not experienced as sexual. However, the data does not support the assertion that the conditions driving the desires of most AB/DLs are inherently sexual.

Overall, 69% of AB/DLs (447) reported an interest in non-baby-themed masochism, but 72% of those (323) reported it developing after their AB/DL interests. The probability of reporting an interest in non-baby-themed masochism and the relative timing of the interests varied significantly among the groups, Χ²(20)=51.38, p<.001. The mode of 84% (21) for the Control group for an interest in non-baby-themed masochism was unsurprising, since control was the aspect most closely aligned with masochism. The Control group was also more likely to report having had masochistic interests before their AB/DL interests, post hoc, Χ²(1)=10.21, p=.001, versus other groups and other relative onset times. This was the case for 6 of the 21 in the Control group who reported having both interests, compared to 39 of 387 in other groups.

It seems clear that AB/DLs who consider sex, babyhood, or control more important than the feel, sound, and smell of diapers exist, and should be included as AB/DLs. However, their population size and other factors do not provide clear support for additional AB/DL-specific conditions.

Clustering

Data from the second survey, on current importance and reported change, can be plotted as shown in Figure 4. The importance of an aspect can be plotted on the horizontal axis. (To give intuitive signs, positive importances were placed to the right on this figure.) The flux of an aspect can then be plotted on the vertical axis. The flux would be the number of participants reporting an increase in an aspect, minus the number reporting a decrease, all divided by the total number reporting. This would give a range from 1 (all increasing) through 0 (all unchanging or an equal number increasing and decreasing) to -1 (all decreasing).

Focusing on three aspects - sex, control, and babyhood - gives nine curves, with the flux of each aspect plotted against the importance of each aspect. To avoid overlaying the nine curves, horizontal axes (the current importance of each aspect) are offset: 'Sex' on the left, control in the middle, and babyhood on the right.

To keep an aspect's mean flux from appearing multiple times on the plot, it was subtracted from plots of differing flux and importance aspects. For example, the curve for sex flux given the importance of control - the black curve in the middle - was offset downwards by the mean flux for 'sex.'

To summarize the resulting curves, linear regression can be used. Each curve could then be expressed as a slope and intercept at 'OK'. The values are tabulated in Table 2.

Table 1
Reported Flux by Current Importance
		Slope		OK Intercept
Flux	Mean	Sex Importance	Control Importance	Babyhood Importance	Sex Importance	Control Importance	Babyhood Importance
Sex	0.17	0.27	0.05	-0.01	0.03	0.00	0.00
Control	0.27	0.07	0.30	0.14	-0.05	0.20	-0.03
Babyhood	0.19	-0.03	0.13	0.30	0.03	-0.02	0.12

As would be expected from the polarizing trends shown in Figure 1, the slopes for same aspects (along the diagonal of the table) are high and positive. If an aspect is important, it has tended to have increased. The slopes between control to babyhood, and babyhood to control, are positive. If one is important, the other has tended to have increased. This is consistent with the helpless baby in diapers association. In contrast, the slopes for sex to babyhood and babyhood to sex are small and negative. If one is important, the other tended to decrease slightly. This is consistent with the innocent baby association. Since this wouldn't be the only factor affecting the importance of sex, it might have increased in spite of it.

When interpreting the curves and regression results, it is helpful to note that the importances plotted are after the change, not before.

An illustration of the clustering seen in Mapping infantilism and diaper fetishes is reproduced in Figure 5. It shows the distribution of the AB/DL population based on the contrasting importances of sex, control, and babyhood. For simplicity, the five levels of the survey data were reduced to three; positive importance (Important or Very Important), neutrality ('OK'), or negative importance (Tolerable or Must Be Absent). Each aspect was plotted on an axis, resulting in 27 nodes. The population of each node was represented by the size of the disc. This resulted in a four-dimensional plot.

The five nodes that might be included in traditional definitions of paraphilic infantilism were colored white, and included the most populous node. The four nodes that might be included in the traditional definition of diaper fetishism were colored black, and included the third most populous node.

This figure shows the distribution of AB/DLs mapped by interest. The importance of three themes - control, sex, and babyhood - are plotted on three axes.

Figure 5, CSB Disk Plot. This figure plots the importance of the themes of control, sex, and babyhood in three dimensional space. Arbitrarily, control-related themes could be plotted on the X axis, shown by the arrow pointing left and downward. Then sexual themes could be plotted on the Y axis, shown by the arrow pointing to the right. Finally, babyhood themes could be plotted along the Z axis, the arrow pointing up. The position along the axis would be determined by the absolute importance, grouped as either positive (+), neutral (0), or negative (-), from Grey, 2007. The disk area is proportional to the population of AB/DLs who are represented by the disc. The disks matching the conventional definitions of paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism are colored white and black respectively.

This clustering is simply explained by Table 2. Table 2 doesn't give information on when the flux occurs, so the transitions for individuals might happen in a different order than described below. The initial diaper impulse would appear near the origin, neither positive nor negative on the three aspects (C0S0B0). The large slopes on the diagonal of Table 2 represent a general divergence: The population would tend become either positive or negative for each aspect. The positive means on Table 2 represent a bias towards positive importance.

However, the control/babyhood (and babyhood/control) slopes would bias those two aspects to increase or decrease together. This would cause clustering towards C+S*B+ (positive importance for control and babyhood, irrespective of sex) and C-S*B- (negative importance).

In turn, the small, negative sex/babyhood (and babyhood/sex) slope might cause clustering towards C*S-B+ and C*S+B-. However, since the slope is small, the effect is subordinate to others.

This explains the observed clustering at C+S+B+, C+S0B+, C+S-B+, and C-S+B-. This also explains the traditional definitions of paraphilic infantilism (including C+S+B+) and diaper fetishism (including C-S+B-). Ironically, neither include the hypothetical node of the initial diaper impulse, likely C0S0B0.

AB to DL population distribution

The initial diaper impulse also explains another apparent incongruity between two prior results. C+S+B+, the most populous node, lines up with some aspects of the traditional definition of paraphilic infantilism. It would then also traditionally be associated with adult babies. However, 'AB' is not the most populous category. To the contrary, the clear mode is 'mostly DL.' The AB to DL distribution of the AB/DL population is shown in Figure 6. Based on data from the second survey, it differs slightly from a similar plot based on data from the first survey (Grey, 2006).

Setting traditions aside, the initial diaper impulse would drive a primary desire for diapers. AB/DLs with it would start out as diaper lovers. However, an interest in control or babyhood might develop, causing some AB/DLs to transition towards adult babyhood to varying degrees. Granted, based on Figure 2, a mode of 'equally' (or tied) might have been expected.

This explanation would also set aside the traditional association between diaper fetishes and diaper lovers. That is, while most AB/DLs would start out as diaper lovers, they wouldn't start out with diaper fetishes as conventionally defined.

Conclusions and Limitations

Data from the first and second surveys of the AB/DL Survey Series suggest that the desires of the majority of AB/DLs can be attributed to one specific condition, driving an inherent and simple desire for the tangible aspects of diapers - the feel, sound, and smell. It might be called an initial diaper impulse.

In contrast, the data suggests that aspects of sex, control, and babyhood might have acquired an importance after the development of the initial diaper impulse, but possibly still early in life. Separately, these aspects appeared to become more polar, increasing on average. While unequal, they were not independent. For example, control and babyhood seem to have had a positive influence on each other, while sex and babyhood seem to have had a slightly negative influence on each other. These relationships might have caused population clusters, including the observed nodes consistent with the conventional definition of diaper fetishism and the definition of paraphilic infantilism used by some sources, without an inherent masochism.

Other groups within the AB/DL community were explored, and were partially attributable to familiar conditions. For example, those who considered sex to be the most important aspect tended to report having decided to add AB/DL practices to existing desires, characteristic of kinks, and those that considered control to be the most important aspect tended to report having had a conventional masochism before developing AB/DL interests. This doesn't preclude other AB/DL-specific conditions, but also doesn't support their existence.

An initial diaper impulse explains both paraphilic infantilism and diaper fetishism without requiring multiple AB/DL-specific conditions. It is possible that the initial diaper impulse, fetishism, and masochism are themselves results of some more basic cause.

This analysis was ambitious. It attempted to reconstruct initial desires from retrospective reports. It builds a strong case that the present desires of most AB/DLs center around intimate aspects of the diaper - the feel, smell, and sound - as opposed to the themes of sex, control, or babyhood. The support for the assertion that the present importance of sex, control, or babyhood in most AB/DLs is due to divergence, as opposed to an initial difference, is less strong. Finally, while showing some support for the hypothesis that the desires of most AB/DLs diverged from an initial diaper impulse, it offers mechanisms for neither the initial diaper impulse nor the divergence.