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

Abstract

Introduction: The 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. Methods: The 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. Results: Overall, 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. Conclusions: The 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 Implications: Findings from the present study suggest that preventive programs in schools and communities should be holistic and address various forms of TFSV.