Risk Factors for and Impact of Online Sexual Solicitation of Youth

Mitchell, Kimberly J.; Finkelhor, David; Wolak, Janis

doi:10.1001/jama.285.23.3011

Cited by 228 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Unwanted sexual solicitation and Internet harassment online seem to be having a negative impact on an important minority of youth, [6][7][8][15][16][17] and adolescent health professionals play important roles in educating parents and the public on how to reduce the likelihood of these events. An important gap in this effort is an evaluation of victimization risk that social networking sites may pose to youth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[6][7][8][15][16][17] Unwanted sexual solicitation occurs when youth are asked to engage in sexual talk or sexual behavior or to provide personal sexual information when they do not want to. An example from the Youth Internet Safety Survey-2 7 is offered by a 15-yearold boy: "A girl in her teens asked me to get naked on 'cam' but I just ignored her."…”

Section: Internet Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both types of online interpersonal victimization online are associated with emotional distress and concurrent psychosocial problems, including depressive symptomatology and offline victimization (eg, physical assault by peers). [6][7][8][15][16][17] Certainly, the prevention of these types of experiences is of great importance. Whether recent suggestions to regulate or in other ways prevent youth from participating in social networking sites are an important step in doing so has yet to be examined empirically.…”

Section: Internet Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These noted differences are likely in part because older girls are more likely to have an online profile, 1 and they are more likely to be targeted for unwanted sexual solicitation generally. 8,16 Older youth are more likely to have online profiles 1 and to be engaged in Internet harassment generally. 6,15 From a prevention and intervention perspective, social networking sites seem to be effective places to reach older girls who may be demonstrating risky behaviors either in social networking sites as well as other places online.…”

Section: How Often Does It Actually Happen In Social Networking Sites?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs

Ybarra¹,

2008

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OBJECTIVE. Recently, public attention has focused on the possibility that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are being widely used to sexually solicit underage youth, consequently increasing their vulnerability to sexual victimization. Beyond anecdotal accounts, however, whether victimization is more commonly reported in social networking sites is unknown. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. The Growing up With Media Survey is a national cross-sectional online survey of 1588 youth. Participants were 10- to 15-year-old youth who have used the Internet at least once in the last 6 months. The main outcome measures were unwanted sexual solicitation on the Internet, defined as unwanted requests to talk about sex, provide personal sexual information, and do something sexual, and Internet harassment, defined as rude or mean comments, or spreading of rumors. RESULTS. Fifteen percent of all of the youth reported an unwanted sexual solicitation online in the last year; 4% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Thirty-three percent reported an online harassment in the last year; 9% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Among targeted youth, solicitations were more commonly reported via instant messaging (43%) and in chat rooms (32%), and harassment was more commonly reported in instant messaging (55%) than through social networking sites (27% and 28%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS. Broad claims of victimization risk, at least defined as unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment, associated with social networking sites do not seem justified. Prevention efforts may have a greater impact if they focus on the psychosocial problems of youth instead of a specific Internet application, including funding for online youth outreach programs, school antibullying programs, and online mental health services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Internet Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Internet Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Often Does It Actually Happen In Social Networking Sites?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs

Ybarra¹,

2008

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“…Internet problems that have received the most attention include the sexual exploitation of youth, overuse or addiction, and pornography (e.g., Cooper, Scherer, Boies, & Gordon, 1999;Griffiths, 2001;Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2001;Young, 2004). Whether Internetrelated problems typically present as a primary problem in treatment, or whether they are more commonly secondary to more conventional mental health problems, is unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Problematic Internet experiences: Primary or secondary presenting problems in persons seeking mental health care?

Mitchell

Wells

2007

Social Science & Medicine

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This study utilizes data from clinical reports of 1441 youth and adults in the USA to examine the types of problematic Internet experiences mental health professionals report as clients' primary or secondary presenting problems. Overall, clients who present in treatment with an Internet problem are more likely to have problems related to overuse of the Internet; use of adult pornography; use of child pornography; sexual exploitation perpetration; and gaming, gambling, or role-playing. Other Internet-related problems, such as isolative-avoidant use, sexual exploitation victimization, harassment perpetration, and online infidelity were equally likely to present in treatment as a primary problem or secondary to other mental health concerns. Some differences between youth and adult clients were also identified. Findings suggest some initial support for the importance of including Internet use, experiences, and behavior as part of an initial clinical assessment. r

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Sexual Solicitation of Youth on the Internet

Hlaing

2001

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association

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Risk Factors for and Impact of Online Sexual Solicitation of Youth

Cited by 228 publications

References 11 publications

How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs

How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs

Problematic Internet experiences: Primary or secondary presenting problems in persons seeking mental health care?

Sexual Solicitation of Youth on the Internet

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