Prevalence and characteristics of online child sexual victimization: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study

Kerryann Walsh; Ben Mathews; Kausar Parvin; Rhiannon Smith; Melanie Burton; Mariesa Nicholas; Sarah Napier; Timothy Cubitt; Holly Erskine; Hannah J Thomas; David Finkelhor; Daryl J Higgins; James G Scott; Asher Flynn; Jennie Noll; Eva Malacova; Ha Le; Nam Tran

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107186

Prevalence and characteristics of online child sexual victimization: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study

Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Dec 6:160:107186. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107186. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kerryann Walsh¹, Ben Mathews², Kausar Parvin³, Rhiannon Smith³, Melanie Burton⁴, Mariesa Nicholas⁴, Sarah Napier⁵, Timothy Cubitt⁵, Holly Erskine⁶, Hannah J Thomas⁷, David Finkelhor⁸, Daryl J Higgins⁹, James G Scott¹⁰, Asher Flynn¹¹, Jennie Noll¹², Eva Malacova¹³, Ha Le³, Nam Tran¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
² School of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia; Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ School of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
⁴ eSafety Commissioner, Sydney, Australia.
⁵ Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, Australia.
⁶ Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Wacol, Australia; School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
⁷ Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Wacol, Australia; School of Public Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
⁸ Crimes Against Children Research Center, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA.
⁹ Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁰ Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Wacol, Australia; Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Child and Youth Mental Health Service, Children's Health Queensland, South Brisbane, Australia.
¹¹ School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹² Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, New York, USA.
¹³ QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
¹⁴ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, Australia.

PMID: 39644728
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107186

Abstract

Background: Online child sexual victimization is increasingly facilitated by technology, but evidence of its prevalence and characteristics remains scarce. Reliable population-based data is critical to understand the magnitude and nature of the problem, and inform evidence-based prevention.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of nonconsensual sharing of sexual images of the child by any perpetrator, and of online sexual solicitation by any adult perpetrator; and to determine the characteristics of these experiences.

Participants and setting: A nationally representative sample of 3500 individuals aged 16-24 years in Australia, comprising a sub-sample of participants in the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS).

Methods: We administered the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-R2: Adapted Version (ACMS). Survey items captured self-reported information from participants about whether, before age 18, they had experienced nonconsensual sharing of sexual images of themselves by any perpetrator, and online sexual solicitation by an adult. Follow-up items generated information about the characteristics of these experiences. We generated weighted national prevalence estimates for each experience, and estimated chronicity (number of times the experience occurred), age at onset, and perpetrator characteristics.

Results: National prevalence of nonconsensual sharing of sexual images of the child before age 18 was 7.6 % (95 % CI 6.6-8.6 %), and of online sexual solicitation by an adult was 17.7 % (95 % CI 16.3-19.2 %). Girls were significantly more likely than boys to experience both nonconsensual image sharing victimization (10.9 % v 3.8 %) and online sexual solicitation by an adult (26.3 % v 7.6 %) before age 18. Gender diverse individuals experienced higher online sexual solicitation (47.9 %), although cell sizes were small. Chronicity of online sexual solicitation (median: n = 5) was higher than nonconsensual image sharing victimization (median: n = 2). Median ages at onset were 15 (image sharing) and 14 (sexual solicitation). Most perpetrators of nonconsensual image sharing were other known adolescents (48.8 %) and adolescents who were current or former romantic partners (23.4 %), while perpetrators of online sexual solicitation were typically unknown adults (86.7 %).

Conclusions: Online childhood sexual victimization is widespread in Australia, especially for girls. Many children's experiences begin in middle childhood, and events are often chronic. Results can inform enhanced targeted prevention efforts.

Keywords: Age at onset; Image-based abuse; Nonconsensual sharing of images; Online child sexual victimization; Online sexual solicitation; Perpetrators; Prevalence.