Epidemiology of online sexual solicitation and interaction of minors with adults: A longitudinal study
Introduction
The advancement of information and communication technologies has promoted the use of alternative forms of communication and interaction. Data indicate that 80 % of European adolescents between the ages of 9 and 16 use their smartphones to connect to the Internet and to their social networks daily (Smahel et al., 2020). However, this widespread use of technology among minors has also led to the emergence of and increases in other forms of abuse, such as online sexual solicitations and interactions between adults and minors, which endanger and affect the well-being of children and their families worldwide.
Adult sexual solicitation of a minor can be defined as “online requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk or give personal sexual information that were unwanted or, whether wanted or not, were made by an adult” (Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2007, p. 532). These, along with sexual interactions between adults and minors (e.g., sex via webcam, sexual conversations, sending sexual photos or videos, or meeting offline for sexual contact), are booming phenomena that raise enormous social concern (de Santisteban & Gámez-Guadix, 2017; Gámez-Guadix & Mateos-Pérez, 2019). Although this study focuses on online sexual solicitation and interactions between minors and adults, according to the scientific literature, these types of sexualized behaviors are sometimes part of a more global process of child grooming—the seduction and/or manipulation of minors carried out by an adult (Broome, Izura, & Davies, 2020; Gámez-Guadix, Almendros, Calvete, & De Santisteban, 2018; Ringenberg, Seigfried-Spellar, Rayz, & Rogers, 2022). When this occurs, the adult manipulates the child into developing a feeling of attachment to the abuser, who displays an expectation of trust and intimacy, concealing primarily sexual intentions (Kloess, Hamilton-Giachritsis, & Beech, 2019).
The existing data indicate that online sexual solicitation and interactions with adults affect many children and adolescents. To date, there is no clear agreement on the prevalence of the problem, but the available data are worrisome. A meta-analysis by Madigan et al. (2018) indicated that 11.5 % of minors (12–16 years old) from different countries had received requests of a sexual nature in the online context, whereas a retrospective study by Greene-Colozzi, Winters, Blasko, and Jeglic (2020) noted that as minors, 23 % of the participants remembered having had a long and intimate conversation with an unknown adult in an online chat that was followed by a pattern of online grooming. In general, the prevalence rates vary across studies due to the wide varieties of measurement instruments, criteria, and ways of conceptualizing the online sexual abuse of children (Bennett & O'Donohue, 2014; Madigan et al., 2018; Whittle, Hamilton-Giachritsis, Beech, & Collings, 2013).
In the Spanish context, there was a modification of the penal code with the approval of Royal Decree 1/2015 (RD 1/2015). Online child grooming is defined as online sexual contact by any person with a child under 16 years of age to arrange a meeting with him/her in order to commit a sexual crime. This sexual contact could also include asking the child for pornographic material in which any minor is depicted. In general, as a criterion for the classification as a victim of online sexual abuse, recent studies have used the occurrence of at least one online sexual solicitation by an adult or a sexual interaction with an adult; this is a common cut-off point that is consistent with the law and the severity of the problem (de Santisteban & Gámez-Guadix, 2017; Gámez-Guadix, De Santisteban, & Alcazar, 2017; Gámez-Guadix et al., 2018). In this regard, previous research has suggested a high prevalence of this problem among minors in Spain. For instance, one study found that 12.6 % of minors reported sexual requests and 7.9 % reported sexualized interactions (Gámez-Guadix et al., 2017). Other studies have found online grooming prevalence rates of between 16.6 % and 17.2 % (Machimbarrena et al., 2018; Montiel, Carbonell, & Pereda, 2016). To assess this problem, several studies have used Gámez-Guadix et al.'s (2017) Questionnaire for Online Sexual Solicitation and Interaction of Minors with Adults, which has provided a comparable framework across studies.
Regarding differences by sex, studies in several countries (Mitchell, Jones, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2014; Sklenarova, Schulz, Schuhmann, Osterheider, & Neutze, 2018; Wachs, Jiskrova, Vazsonyi, Wolf, & Junger, 2016), including Spain (Gámez-Guadix, Román, Mateos, & de Santiesteban, 2021; Machimbarrena et al., 2018; Montiel et al., 2016), have reported a higher prevalence of victimization in girls, both at a general level and with regard to sexual solicitation or interactions. Specifically, according to de Santisteban and Gámez-Guadix (2017), in Spain, 15.6 % of girls and 9.3 % of boys reported sexual solicitation and 8.2 % of girls and 7.4 % of boys reported sexual interactions with adults.
Online sexual solicitation and interaction with adults in adolescence is a relatively recent phenomenon. Hence, most of the studies in the scientific literature are cross-sectional, and very few longitudinal studies have been conducted. Of the few longitudinal studies in Spain, those by Gámez-Guadix and Mateos-Pérez (2019) and de Santisteban and Gámez-Guadix (2018) have shown the stability over time of adults' sexual solicitation of and interactions with minors. In turn, Calvete, Fernández-González, et al. (2021) indicated that sexual solicitation by adults predicted an increase in sexualized interactions with adults one year later. In general, the scarcity of longitudinal studies has meant that there is no epidemiological evidence of this problem over time; that is, there have been no indicators such as period prevalence (the number of cases of an event during a period of time) or incidence (new cases in a given population in a given period) of this problem (Hernández-Aguado & Lumbreras, 2018).
Additionally, it should be noted that for minors, the consequences of online sexual victimization are especially serious. Some studies have linked this type of victimization to symptoms of depression and anxiety (de Santisteban & Gámez-Guadix, 2018; Ståhl & Dennhag, 2020) as well as increased perceived loneliness and lower life satisfaction (Festl, Reer, & Quandt, 2019). According to Mitchell, Finkelhor, and Wolak (2001), 25 % of young people reported that these experiences were extremely distressing or frightening. However, to date, no studies have linked these experiences with health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
HRQoL is a dynamic and multidimensional concept that includes dimensions related to physical health, psychological well-being, peer relationships, the level of independence, and the perception of aspects of the environment that are relevant to that person (Wallander & Koot, 2016). HRQoL has also been evaluated by multiple instruments according to the singularities of its definition, but, in all of them, it is defined as a global construct of perceived well-being that is sensitive to both health and the psychosocial problems of adolescence, such as violence in any of its manifestations (González-Cabrera et al., 2019, González-Cabrera et al., 2021; Lin, Lin, & Fan, 2013; Ortega-Barón et al., 2020; Wallander & Koot, 2016).
In this context, the objectives of the present study were as follows. First, we aimed to analyze the point and period prevalence, incidence, and stability of scores of online sexual solicitation and interaction with adults at three separate time points (wave 1 [W1], wave 2 [W2], and wave 3 [W3]). These analyses also took into account the sex of the victims and the types of victimization separately (sexual solicitation vs. sexualized interactions). Second, we aimed to compare the HRQoL among the different categories of victims of this type of online abuse (non-victims, new victims, ceased victims, intermittent victims, and stable victims) at the three measurements points over the 13-month study.
Regarding the first objective, we hypothesized that the prevalence at any given time would be between 15 % and 20 %, in line with other Spanish studies conducted among similar age groups (Gámez-Guadix et al., 2021; Montiel et al., 2016). Concerning the second objective, it was hypothesized that in W3, adolescents who were victims (those who had received requests of a sexual nature and/or interacted sexually with adults), especially stable victims, would present lower HRQoL scores than non-victimized adolescents, following the trend of previous studies indicating greater psychological distress when victimization stabilized over time (González-Cabrera et al., 2021; Hellfeldt, Gill, & Johansson, 2016; Ortega-Barón et al., 2020).
Section snippets
Design and participants
A prospective study was carried out over 13 months among students between 12 and 15 years old. Measurements were taken at three time points W1 (December 2017), W2 (May 2018), and W3 (January 2019). The number of participants was 2421 in W1, 1979 (81.7 %) in W2, and 2172 (89.7 %) in W3. Finally, 1029 participants (42.5 % of the original sample) responses were matched across all three waves (43 % boys and 57 % girls). In W1, the mean age was 13.34 ± 0.96 years; in W2, 13.60 ± 0.94 years; and in
Prevalence for all three waves of victimization
Taking into account sexual solicitation and sexual interactions between minors and adults conjointly, the point prevalence was 12.9 % in W1 (n = 131; 16.5 % boys, 83.5 % girls; χ2(11021) = 36.81; p < .001); 14 % in W2 (n = 142; 13.2 % boys, 86.8 % girls; χ2(11018) = 49.76; p < .001); and 18.6 % in W3 (n = 188; 26.8 % boys, 73.2 % girls; χ2(11016) = 20.65; p < .001).
Table 1 shows the prevalence of victimization for sexual solicitation and sexualized interactions separately. There were
Discussion
This study provides empirical evidence of the prevalence and incidence of adult online sexual solicitation toward minors and sexualized interactions between minors and adults over time. In addition, it explores the relationship between these types of online sexual victimization and the decline in victims' HRQoL through a longitudinal perspective.
In W1 and W2 (during the same school year), the prevalence rates of sexual solicitation and interactions were slightly lower than those reported by
Funding
This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation [RTI2018-094212-B-I00: (CIBER-AACC)] and by the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja in its Own Research Plan [Grupo Ciberpsicología triennium 2017–2020 and biennium 2020–2022].
Declaration of competing interest
There are no financial, work, or other relationships that may constitute a conflict of interest concerning this work.
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