In a recent review, about 35% of participants reported experiencing online child sexual abuse.
A large proportion of teenagers experience sexual abuse, according to a recent review.
Child sexual abuse is defined as sexual activity with a child that is forced, unwanted or involving a large age gap, making the encounter non-consensual. With technology and the new forms of communication it has created, new avenues for child sexual abuse have arisen.
In recent years, concerns have been raised about the use of social media for sexual abuse of children. Cases of online sex abuse, online sex solicitation, online grooming, image-based sex abuse, child sex abuse image production, sex twisting and non-consensual sex are all varieties of abuse determined by educators, doctors, police and parents.
It is necessary to classify the scope and diversity of these offenses, requiring a large amount of empirical work. Data on abuse from other young people, friends, family and romantic partners must also be considered. To define and assess these new forms of abuse, investigators conducted a survey study representative of a national population.
The survey was conducted from November 19, 2021 to December 29, 2021, using KnowledgePanel, a nationally representative online panel. Random probability sampling was used to recruit participants based on mailing addresses. Panelists ranged in age from 18 to 28 years old, with 2639 panelists participating in the survey.
At least 1 instance of technology-facilitated abuse before the age of 18 was reported by 933 participants. Those with multiple cases of technology-facilitated abuse had their earliest case prioritized for the study. Participants were more often female and slightly older compared to the standard population distribution for people aged 18 to 28 years.
Yes or no questions were asked for 9 different forms of sexual abuse: non-consensual abuse of images, non-consensual image taking, forced image solicitation, threatened sharing, unwanted sexual chats, unwanted sexual questions, unwanted sexual requests, voluntary older partner and commercial activity.
Participants were also asked about online solicitation, online child sexual abuse, image-based sexual abuse, non-consensual sex, self-generated child sexual abuse images, online grooming of an adult, revenge pornography, child sextortion or sexual blackmail, and online commercials. exploitation Stata/SE software, version 17 was used to analyze data.
Unwanted sexual events occurring online were the most reported form of abuse, followed by unwanted sexual talk, then unwanted requests to engage in sexual acts. Approximately 23% of participants experienced one of these examples of online solicitation during their childhood.
Cases of being threatened, forced or pressured into sharing sexual images were reported by about 10% of participants. Engaging in sexual conversation or sharing sexual images was reported by nearly 9% of participants, nonconsensual image sharing by approximately 5%, nonconsensual image taking by approximately 2%, and approximately 4% for being threatened with image sharing.
Commercial speech was reported by about 2% of participants, commercial images by approximately 1%, and other commercial activity by nearly 1%. Non-consensual sexual blackmail was reported by approximately 7% of participants, online grooming by approximately 5%, and sexual blackmail by approximately 4%.
Participants most often experience episodes aged 13 to 17, with offenses against children aged 12 and younger occurring in less than 16% of cases for each category. In approximately 75% of cases, the perpetrator of the offense was not known by the victim.
These results indicate that a large proportion of adolescents and young adults experience some form of online sexual abuse. Investigators urged professionals to develop prevention and intervention strategies against online child sexual abuse.
Finkelhor D, Turner H, Colburn D. Prevalence of Internet sexual offenses against children in the United States. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(10):e2234471. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.34471
