The risk of sexual-erotic online behavior in adolescents – Which personality factors predict sexting and grooming victimization?

Abstract

Information and communication technologies provide new opportunities for adolescents to establish and maintain intimate relationships, as well as exploring their sexuality. However, the young population is particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of violence or online abuse. The aim of this study was to understand to which extent the personality factors (extraversion, narcissism, lack of empathy and disinhibition) are related to sexting and online grooming victimization. The participants were 1763 adolescents between 12 and 16 years (M = 14.56, SD = 1.16, 50.99% girls). A cross-sectional design with self-report data was used, analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that boys are more frequently involved in sexting and online grooming activities than girls. Personality profiles differ between sexual-erotic online behaviors, with different patterns for boys and girls. While the combination of a variety of personal characteristics such as narcissism, lack of empathy, disinhibition and extraversion predicts erotic online activities in boys, the personality factors that best predict such online risk behavior in girls are narcissism and disinhibition. When parents or educators perceive that children are showing narcissistic and uninhibited behaviors on social media and the internet, it may be beneficial to assess their sexual-erotic online activities in order to intervene and protect them from becoming victims of online harassment.