Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence Perpetration and Victimization Among Adolescents: A Network Analysis

Abstract

IntroductionThe present study sought to analyze the relationships between different forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) perpetration and victimization, including gender- and sexuality-based harassment, digital sexual harassment, and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), which includes both sextortion and non-consensual pornography.MethodsThe sample was composed of 1682 adolescents (865 girls; Mage = 13.90, SDage = 1.26) who completed self-report measures from November 2019 to March 2020. We conducted network analyses to analyze the relationships among different forms of TFSV perpetration and victimization.ResultsOverall, girls had higher victimization scores, whereas boys had higher scores in the perpetration of several forms of TFSV. Gender- and sexuality-based victimization formed a cluster with digital sexual harassment victimization, while sextortion and nonconsensual pornography victimization formed a differentiated cluster. Forms of IBSA victimization and digital sexual harassment victimization were strongly associated with their perpetration counterparts for boys, but this was not the case for girls.ConclusionsThe results revealed that the different forms of victimization and perpetration appear to be related and suggest that TFSV is a gendered form of abuse.Policy ImplicationsFindings from the present study suggest that preventive programs in schools and communities should be holistic and address various forms of TFSV.