Peering through the lens: An exploration into the pathways and characteristics associated with voyeuristic behaviours

Over the last 50 years, there has been a plethora of research exploring sexual offending with a recent focus on online offending. However, little research has focused on voyeurism despite convictions and media awareness growing rapidly. Voyeurism has been, and continues to be, a growing problem worldwide, particularly with technology-use rising. Yet, unlike most other sexual offences, the pathways, characteristics, and risk factors associated with voyeurism have been largely uninvestigated. This is particularly concerning given that paraphilic sexual interests, such as voyeurism, have been identified as a risk factor for committing a sexual offence. As such, currently, there is sparse theoretical or empirical literature to guide research and practice for individuals engaging in voyeuristic behaviours.

This thesis, comprised of five empirical studies, sought to help build a picture of what leads men into engaging with voyeurism, in hopes to catalyse research into this area. Study 1 developed a temporal model on the cognitive, affective, behavioural, and contextual factors leading up to voyeuristic engagement, and potential pathways associated with this, utilising a sample of imprisoned individuals. Study 2 investigated the rates of sexual arousal, proclivity, and engagement with voyeurism in the general population to gather an estimate of the prevalence in the UK. In Studies 3 and 4, image-based voyeuristic stimuli were created for newly-developed indirect measures of sexual interest in voyeurism, a factor found to be important for voyeuristic engagement when assessed directly along with resilient coping. The characteristics and psychological risk factors were then examined among the general population in Study 5 and an empirical model was generated using structural equation modelling.

The findings from this thesis suggest that (a) there are a number of key risk factors that individuals experience which may lead them to engage with voyeurism; (b) the prevalence of voyeuristic engagement in the UK is high in the general population; (c) indirect measurement of sexual interest in voyeurism is complex but sexual interest in voyeurism and resilient coping are important factors associated with voyeuristic engagement, drawing into question motivations to engage; and (d) sexual interest in voyeurism is a strong predictor of engagement in voyeuristic behaviours, and both sexual compulsivity and socio-relational factors (i.e., loneliness, self-efficacy in romantic relationship, and resilient coping) play an important role in this relationship. The implications of the findings included in this thesis are important for both research and practice and as such, are discussed along with the limitations and future directions.