Explaining Victim Impact from Cyber Abuse: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Analysis

Abstract

Crime and deviance can have a significant and long-lasting effect on victims. While the literature on victim impact from traditional types of crime like robbery or assault is well established, much smaller scholarship examines the impact of online forms of deviance with only a handful of studies focusing on the experiences of adult victims. The current paper analyses the data from a sample of the U.S. adults (N= 746) using mixed methods to examine the perceived impact from different types of cyber abuse. A thematic analysis of open-ended responses identified five main types of victim impact: psychological, emotional, social, financial and positive. We also found that females, victims, who were abused by someone they knew, and who experienced multiple methods of abuse tended to experience higher impact. Besides, some methods of abuse appeared to affect victims more than others. Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of cyber abuse as a type of deviant behavior and help inform policy responses to the needs of cyber abuse victims.

U.S. Young Adults’ Professional Help-Seeking in Response to Technology-Facilitated Abuse

“…TFA may be associated with health consequences, material costs, and functional harm, to varying degrees of severity depending on the individual and the circumstances (Borwell et al, 2021; Brown et al, 2021; Stevens et al, 2021; Vakhitova, Alston-Knox, et al, 2021). And yet this study found that a substantial majority of people who experience TFA do not seek professional help.…”

“…Help-seeking in response to TFA is associated with female identity and experiencing multiple forms of TFA (Vakhitova, Alston-Knox, et al, 2021). While the internet affords the option of online anonymity, 1 some people do not conceal their identity online and others choose to reveal things about themselves (e.g., sharing their photo, or not concealing which online groups they join) that might reveal their identity to a perpetrator of TFA (Morio & Buchholz, 2009).…”

Luster Regained : A Novel Cyber Incident Risk Prediction Model Using Machine Learning

“…3. A 2021 study [14] concluded that "some methods of abuse appeared to affect victims more than others." Relating this to cyber safety, we hypothesized that: the more distress a student feels after a cyber incident, the longer it takes to recover.…”

(Re)thinking gender in cyber-violence. Insights from awareness-raising campaigns on online violence against women and girls in Italy

“…While gender was quikly assumed to play a pivotal role in shaping cyber-violence, for many years it was viewed, both within and outside academic circles, merely as one factor influencing vulnerability to violence perpetrated online (World Wide Web Foundation, 2014). Although cyber-violence against women and girls (cyber-VAWG) has very concrete repercussions on the well-being of those subjected to it (Citron & Franks, 2014;Giungi et al, 2019;Gius, 2022;Saltz et al, 2020;Vakhitova et al, 2021), early observers kept online abuses separated from more traditional forms of violence perpetrated against women. In their opinion, cyber-VAWG lacked the urgency and severity usually ascribed to physical harm, thus viewing it as a distinct issue.…”