Internet Risks: An Overview of Victimization in Cyberbullying, Cyber Dating Abuse, Sexting, Online Grooming and Problematic Internet Use

Abstract

The advance of digital media has created risks that affect the bio-psycho-social well-being of adolescents. Some of these risks are cyberbullying, cyber dating abuse, sexting, online grooming and problematic Internet use. These risks have been studied individually or through associations of some of them but they have not been explored conjointly. The main objective is to determine the comorbidity between the described Internet risks and to identify the profiles of victimized adolescents. An analytical and cross-sectional study with 3212 participants (46.3% males) from 22 Spanish schools was carried out. Mean age was 13.92 ± 1.44 years (range 11–21). Assessment tools with adequate standards of reliability and validity were used. The main results indicate that the most prevalent single risk is cyberbullying victimization (30.27%). The most prevalent two-risk associations are cyberbullying-online grooming (12.61%) and cyberbullying-sexting (5.79%). The three-risk combination of cyberbullying-sexting-grooming (7.12%) is highlighted, while 5.49% of the adolescents present all the risks. In addition, four profiles are distinguished, with the profile Sexualized risk behaviour standing out, with high scores in grooming and sexting and low scores in the rest of the risks. Determining the comorbidity of risks is useful for clinical and educational interventions, as it can provide information about additional risks.

Relations among Romantic Myths, Offline Dating Violence Victimization and Cyber Dating Violence Victimization in Adolescents

“…Not recognizing some abuse behaviors increases the probably of suffering victimization because victims are not fully aware of abusive behaviors [52]. Adolescents' beliefs in romantic myths could make them believe that certain abusive, controlling and jealous behaviors are signs of love and are normal behaviors in a romantic relationship [39,41,42,47,53]. In line with this, some previous studies have linked offline DV victimization with myths of romantic love [47,48,50,51,54,55].…”

“…Offline DV victimization in a romantic relationship negatively affects adolescents' well-being and has been related to stress, anxiety, less satisfaction with life, poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, substance abuse, and eating disorders [30,31,33,36,37]. Positive correlations among different forms of offline DV victimization (physical, verbal-emotional, and relational) have been observed [38], and it has also been suggested that being victimized in one social context increases the probability of being victimized in other social contexts, which could increase the possibility of suffering poly-victimization [39][40][41][42][43][44]. However, no study has yet explored if different forms of offline DV victimization, such as physical, verbal-emotional or relational victimization, have varying predictive weights in relation to distinct forms of cyber DV victimization: cyber-control and cyber-aggression.…”

Prevalence and Interpersonal Correlates of Internet Gaming Disorders among Chinese Adolescents

“…Previous studies found that peer bullying was significantly associated with IGD among college students [29] and pathological Internet use among adolescents [30]. Online bullying has also been anecdotally and empirically linked to multiple maladaptive emotional and behavioral outcomes among adolescents, such as depression, substance use, and suicide [31,32]. Yet, our literature search did not locate any studies that examined the association between online/peer bullying and adolescent IGD.…”

Towards a Holistic ICT Platform for Protecting Intimate Partner Violence Survivors Based on the IoT Paradigm

“…As a result, we are now getting used to concepts such as cyberstalking, doxing, phishing, grooming, or sextortion. These new offences have been widely described in the literature [11,12].…”

“…As a result, we are now getting used to concepts such as cyberstalking, doxing, phishing, grooming, or sextortion. These new offences have been widely described in the literature [11,12].In addition to these expressions of violence, the cyber environment also reproduces the general gender gap that exists in society [13]. Combined with gender pay gap and the other inequalities present in our world, the terms "digital gender gap" or "digital gender divide", involve a social issue referring to the differing amount of information between those who have access to the internet (especially broadband access) and those who do not, as described in terms of gender.…”