Adult Baby Psychology and Practice book

[oddlynappied]

Howdy all from Australia!

[Missy Q]

There is a serious SERIOUS lack of research, study, literature, and books regarding the entire AB/DL world. I welcome and applaud anyone who wants to do formal work on it like this.

[oddlynappied]

2 minutes ago, Quinlynn said:

There is a serious SERIOUS lack of research, study, literature, and books regarding the entire AB/DL world. I welcome and applaud anyone who wants to do formal work on it like this.

[Missy Q]

7 minutes ago, oddlynappied said:

That is kind of what I was thinking too. There are some elements to criticise but there is a whole lot to applaud and given that there is practically nothing else around, it is good. I did read two PhD dissertations on adult babies. The first from 30 years ago was very poor and the latest wasnt very good either. It just feels like so many of the people simply 'dont get it'.

[oddlynappied]

Just now, Quinlynn said:

I'm guessing it has to do with the AB/DL world being too "strange" or small for anyone to warrant a formal study or research. Pretty much any fetish/lifestyle outside of BSDM or feet hardly ever gets any attention.

You could be right. I suppose in the pre-internet era ABDL was virtually unknown and it was a common experience for people to think they were the only ones into it. Even now, numbers are relatively small although I do wonder about the massive sales of adult diapers and how they can all be nursing homes since most residents there don't wear them anyhow. I think the diaper-wearing community is quite large and bigger than anyone thinks. How many are AB is another question and probably not one we will get an answer to anytime soon - if ever.

[wetatnight]

before the internet I thought that I was the only person interested in diapers and wanting to be back in them again

[Elfy]

9 hours ago, oddlynappied said:

Is it possible that just like bedwetting is a HUGE secret for a lot of people and the official figures are way under-reported, that perhaps the numbers of ABs or diaper wearers are likewise under-stated? I remember reading that only 30% of parents will admit their kids wet the bed in any kind of survey and that adults are even worse.

I guess it isn't impossible but if you look at how many people sign up to these sites you get a different answer. We have 34,000 members here (definitely not all unique, some are people with multiple accounts... In fact probably quite a few) for a site that has been around as long as this one has that isn't too many, even accounting for the couple of time users were culled from the database.

The ABDL section on reddit, a site with millions of users, only has 6,000 members.

I don't think there is much of a population of ABDLs who don't sign up to at least one ABDL site out there. Some are ashamed and stay away but I think that that is a very small percentage. Obviously there are a lot of non-English speaking ABDL sites that cater for people from other places but I don't have any reason to believe that their sites would be proportionally bigger.

Basically... I really don't think there is some hidden mass of ABDLs that isn't registered somewhere. Parents not answering that their kids have bed wetting issues is totally different, they would be answering on a survey and don't want to embarrass their kids or wouldn't want to give private info like that out when questioned. Signing up to these sites is entirely voluntary and very anonymous, there is less need to be so cautious about volunteering info than a parent looking out for their child.

[Diapered Jason]

12 hours ago, oddlynappied said:

That is kind of what I was thinking too. There are some elements to criticise but there is a whole lot to applaud and given that there is practically nothing else around, it is good. I did read two PhD dissertations on adult babies. The first from 30 years ago was very poor and the latest wasnt very good either. It just feels like so many of the people simply 'dont get it'.

[oddlynappied]

8 hours ago, Kayfabe said:

I guess it isn't impossible but if you look at how many people sign up to these sites you get a different answer. We have 34,000 members here (definitely not all unique, some are people with multiple accounts... In fact probably quite a few) for a site that has been around as long as this one has that isn't too many, even accounting for the couple of time users were culled from the database.

The ABDL section on reddit, a site with millions of users, only has 6,000 members.

I don't think there is much of a population of ABDLs who don't sign up to at least one ABDL site out there. Some are ashamed and stay away but I think that that is a very small percentage. Obviously there are a lot of non-English speaking ABDL sites that cater for people from other places but I don't have any reason to believe that their sites would be proportionally bigger.

Basically... I really don't think there is some hidden mass of ABDLs that isn't registered somewhere. Parents not answering that their kids have bed wetting issues is totally different, they would be answering on a survey and don't want to embarrass their kids or wouldn't want to give private info like that out when questioned. Signing up to these sites is entirely voluntary and very anonymous, there is less need to be so cautious about volunteering info than a parent looking out for their child.

I guess we don't really know how many there are other than that the numbers are small. But while REDDIT has millions of users, the planet has BILLIONS of people and so REDDIT itself is just a small subset - probably one in a thousand.

[Elfy]

But just because one thing is under reported doesn't mean something else is. There is no reason to think that just because bed wetting in kids is under reported that there is a huge amount of ABDLs that are hidden away.

If I had to estimate how many people were ABDL in just Europe and the Americas (I would have no idea about other cultures and continents and how prevalent ABDLs are in those places) I would probably say it was a maximum of 1,000,000... And I really doubt there are that many, that would just be the upper limit of my estimation.

As for why there aren't many/any real studies or books about us. What is there to study? We are a tiny, tiny fragment of humanity. For many it is a sexual fetish so any studies covering fetishes cover a lot of us as well. As for why people like nappies and being ABDL, from what I have learnt in my approaching 9 years here is that there are as many answers as there are ABDLs, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, no patterns, it is just something we are hardwired to gravitate toward... And no, I don't think research would suddenly find a link between all of us or an overarching single reason.

I don't know what people would expect to read in a serious research paper about ABDLs. It would be like doing research papers on people who have fetishes for rubber ducks (it exists) there is likely no real reason for it, it just is.

[oddlynappied]

2 minutes ago, Kayfabe said:

But just because one thing is under reported doesn't mean something else is. There is no reason to think that just because bed wetting in kids is under reported that there is a huge amount of ABDLs that are hidden away.

If I had to estimate how many people were ABDL in just Europe and the Americas (I would have no idea about other cultures and continents and how prevalent ABDLs are in those places) I would probably say it was a maximum of 1,000,000... And I really doubt there are that many, that would just be the upper limit of my estimation.

As for why there aren't many/any real studies or books about us. What is there to study? We are a tiny, tiny fragment of humanity. For many it is a sexual fetish so any studies covering fetishes cover a lot of us as well. As for why people like nappies and being ABDL, from what I have learnt in my approaching 9 years here is that there are as many answers as there are ABDLs, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, no patterns, it is just something we are hardwired to gravitate toward... And no, I don't think research would suddenly find a link between all of us or an overarching single reason.

I don't know what people would expect to read in a serious research paper about ABDLs. It would be like doing research papers on people who have fetishes for rubber ducks (it exists) there is likely no real reason for it, it just is.

Since I am an Einsteinian 'determinist', I like answers and structures to explain 'why' in my world. I want to know not just who I am but why I am. I want to know why I am

[Elfy]

I've been in this discussion before and I don't like where this road goes. I'm out.

[Diapered Jason]

34 minutes ago, oddlynappied said:

While the two PhD theses were a bit ordinary I think we need to continue to encourage such research. And while you might not like Rosalie's books, the last PhD Thesis drew very heavily on her work so clearly some academics have a different opinion. I would reject your statement about not having the evidence.

[oddlynappied]

2 hours ago, Diapered Jason said:

That is actually a pretty good explanation. I had not realized how psychology research is different in that regard. I'll take better look.

I think the issue you will have with formal research is writing the grant proposal. While you can answer some interesting questions on ABDLs, what would be the goal of the grant. What would be the benefit to society?

Which is probably why the only research to date has been via PhD students where the funding cost is pretty small and limited to student stipends and the little bit of support for surveys. As for the benefit to society I would say that we routinely research and support areas that affect very small groups. Spina Bifida for example affects 1 in a thousand births or around the same ratio as ABDLs - if we accept that hypothesis. Some cancers have an even lower rate. Transgenderism is around

[spark]

For whatever criticism Rosalie gets (which I honestly don't get), she had the best explanation for the phenomenon I've experienced as anybody.

[oddlynappied]

4 hours ago, spark said:

For whatever criticism Rosalie gets (which I honestly don't get), she had the best explanation for the phenomenon I've experienced as anybody.

[Diapered Jason]

In regards to Fetlife, I am lucky where I live. The people are pretty open minded and have no issue with ABDLs. I know that is not the case in many other parts of the country.

I think there is something to be said about the maturity of many people in this fetish. An ABDL convention is very different from some of the other conventions I have been to and it does have to do with the spoiled brat nature of some of the attendees. I know people are in their little space, but that does not excuse some of the conduct and complacency to that conduct that I have seen. I think you'll find that to be actually one of the reasons why we are disliked more often than not in the community.

[Bettypooh]

AFAIK, Rosalie's book is the most well-researched ABDL non-fiction there is. While I don't agree with all she speaks of, I do understand that it's focus and perspective is mainly AB which leases many other areas with lots of unknown

[spark]

1 hour ago, Bettypooh said:

AFAIK, Rosalie's book is the most well-researched ABDL non-fiction there is. While I don't agree with all she speaks of, I do understand that it's focus and perspective is mainly AB which leases many other areas with lots of unknown

[Diapered Jason]

3 hours ago, Bettypooh said:

It kind of reminds me of a girl who won an award for research on how microwaving some foods increased the risk of cancer when eating them. The world already knew that it was true, but she was selected because of her meticulous verifiable finding of the exact amounts involved?

Well, no, microwaves can't cause cancer. Microwaves can't do anything to food that is any different than placing it in an oven. An explanation would require some quantum mechanics that is quite fascinating, but the thing you have to keep in mind