What is pedophobia?
People with pedophobia develop an irrational fear of babies and small children. The word pedophobia stems from “paida,” the Greek word for children. “Phobos” is the Greek word for fear.
Someone who has pedophobia may take extreme measures to avoid being around small children. Even the thought of being near children can cause anxiety and fear.
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What is a phobia?
A phobia is an anxiety disorder that causes a person to become unreasonably fearful of something that won’t harm them. Pedophobia is a specific phobic disorder. A person becomes afraid of, or anxious around, something particular. In this case, it’s babies and small children.
How many people have pedophobia?
It’s hard knowing exactly how many people have a specific phobia disorder like pedophobia. Many people may keep this fear to themselves or may not recognize they have it. We do know that about 1 in 10 American adults and 1 in 5 teenagers will deal with a specific phobia disorder at some point in their lives, though.
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What is the difference between pedophobia and pediophobia?
It can be easy to confuse these two phobias, which have similar spellings. Pediophobia is a fear of dolls or inanimate objects that look real, and pedophobia is a fear of actual children.
People can suffer from both phobias, so someone who fears children (pedophobia) may also fear the childlike features of dolls (pediophobia), and someone with pediophobia may also have pedophobia.
