No Stupid Questions

Well, you're using accurate terminology when asking a question that pertains to the distinctions of how the age related paraphilias work, so I'd actually call that a good thing. There is a difference clinically, and it does factor in to what you're asking, though not to a great degree.

Pedophiles, as opposed to ephebophiles and also as opposed to hebephiles, have more trouble developing and maintaining adult relationships. I haven't ever run across any studies on differentiating hebe and ephebe differences in this regard.

There's a lot of unknowns though, and there's a lot of issues in the existing data because it relies on either people that have offended, and/or those admitting it and willing to participate in research. That's a really narrow band of participants.

That being said, because of what pedophilia is, there tends to be a greater degree of exclusivity than in other categories. Meaning that, when one is attracted to undeveloped bodies and/or minds, a person is much less likely to be able to experience attraction to fully developed bodies. So seeking relationships (romantic, sexual, or friendship) with young adults isn't going to satisfy them. It's a fairly hard line where once puberty begins causing changes, pedophiles lose interest, or even become outright repulsed.

Since hebephilia and ephebophilia are delineations that include more developed bodies and faces, the "edges" are blurrier for them. And, while people sometimes refuse to believe it, the actual age of the individual is not a primary factor in any of the chronophilias. Well, it can be, but it's way less common. What is a primary factor is how closely the object of attraction cleaves to the chronophile's inner "map".

For an ephebophile, that inner set of criteria includes well developed secondary sexual characteristics. So, they have less trouble interacting with legal adults on a sexual level. Hebephiles are murkier because while their range of physical development is definitely not at adult ranges, the last I read anything (pre covid) had them being almost as capable of functioning as ephebophiles.

Which brings us back to your question more precisely. Pedophiles do sometimes seek out less obviously sketchy relationships. But it wouldn't be something common. Whereas an ephebophile, by nature, does seek out romantic and/or sexual relationships with young adults and older teens. They (again, I'm pulling from old info here) can bypass some of the social issues as long as they pay attention to ages of consent, so have less reason to avoid seeking out their preferred level of development.

Again, hebephiles are the murkier category in that. It really isn't as well studied, or wasn't last time I was bored enough to go digging for an online question like this. I suspect that's at least in part due to lower numbers. It seemed to me when looking at stuff that there's less of them.

See, when it comes right down to it, ephebophiles aren't the same kind of chronophilia as pedophiles are. The kind of development they respond to is near adult. Hell, in terms of the secondary sexual development alone, it's not inherently different from attraction to adults, because by the approximate age ranges used to classify ephebophilia casually, many of those bodies are at adult development. It's often other signs of youth that make the key difference. That attraction isn't a malfunction, but a social issue.

Hebephiles? They're classified as a disorder, iirc, but in day to day existence, are more likely to be able to find their attractions in legal outlets because some full adults lack the normative level of secondary sexual development.

Anyway, the short answer is yes, but there's difference in how and why.