Sexual Victimization in the Digital Age: A Population-based Study of Physical and Image-based Sexual Abuse among Adolescents
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Date
2021-01-20Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Original version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02200-8Abstract
Adolescents increasingly use social media platforms, and these practices open up new forms of sexual victimization, in particular image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). Few studies have examined prevalence rates and correlates of both physical sexual victimization (PSV) and these new forms of victimization in representative samples. We used data from 5,245 adolescent girls (53%) and 4,580 adolescent boys (47%) from the population-based Young in Oslo Study (mean age 17.1 years, SD = 0.9). Of all respondents, 2.9% had experienced IBSA, 4.3% PSV, and 1.7% both IBSA and PSV in the course of the previous 12 months. Multivariate analyses revealed that PSV victims, after control for other variables, had many characteristics described in previous studies of sexual victimization. Girls had higher prevalence rates than boys, many had been victims of other types of violence, and were part of peer groups with much use of alcohol and drugs. PSV victims also reported early intercourse onset and a higher proportion had been commercially sexually exploited. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents had higher victimization rates. Victims of both PSV and IBSA had a similar but even more pronounced profile. The IBSA victims were different: They lacked many of the traditional risk factors for sexual victimization, there were no significant gender differences in this group, and IBSA victims more often came from high socioeconomic backgrounds. In conclusion, we observe a reconfigured landscape of sexual victimization patterns among Norway adolescents due to their increasing participation on social media and digital platforms.
Publisher
SpringerSeries
Archives of Sexual Behavior;Journal
Archives of Sexual BehaviorCopyright
© The Author(s) 2022Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
From disease to desire, pleasure to the pill: A qualitative study of adolescent learning about sexual health and sexuality in Chile
Macintyre, Anna; Montero Vega, Adela Rosa; Sagbakken, Mette (BMC public health;15(1), Academic article, 2015-09-23)Background Sexual and reproductive rights include access to accurate and appropriate information in order to make informed decisions. In the current age of media globalization and Internet, adolescents are exposed to ... -
Understanding unwanted sexual touching A situational approach
Stefansen, Kari (Routledge Research in Gender and Society;, Chapter; Peer reviewed, 2019)Situations involving unwanted sexual touching are analysed in this chapter in an effort to enhance our understanding of the social dynamics of this particular form of invading behaviour against girls and young women. The ... -
Sexual violence and mode of delivery: a population-based cohort study
Henriksen, Lena; Schei, Berit; Vangen, Siri; Lukasse, Mirjam (BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Peer reviewed; Journal article, 2014-06-18)Objective This study aimed to explore the association between sexual violence and mode of delivery. Design National cohort study. Setting Women presenting for routine ultrasound examinations were recruited to ...