pedophilia | Definition & Facts | Britannica
pedophilia, also spelled paedophilia, also called pedophilic disorder or pedophilia disorder, in conventional usage, a psychosexual disorder, generally affecting adults, characterized by sexual interest in prepubescent children or attempts to engage in sexual acts with prepubescent children. The term was used with that meaning in the psychiatric diagnostic literature prior to the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2013; DSM-5), which replaced pedophilia with pedophilic disorder. As in earlier editions, the DSM-5 classifies the disorder as one of several paraphilic disorders, involving atypical sexual interests, practices, or behaviours (paraphilias). Unlike the earlier