Prevention of online sexual abuse: What do Chilean adolescents propose?

Abstract

The prevalence of online sexual abuse (OSA) is high worldwide. In Chile, law No. 20,526 seeks to punish sexual harassment, virtual child pornography and possession of child pornographic material. The evidence shows that preventative strategies, aiming to combat OSA, are ineffective, mainly due to their adult-centric logic. For this reason, this study aims to describe the preventive strategies that adolescents are familiar with and which ones they propose. Eighty-two adolescents answered a qualitative online survey. The thematic analysis shows that adolescents propose to prevent OSA by fostering dialogue within the family -balancing supervision with support- instead of imposing rigid norms. The adolescents further suggest incorporating the school community into this dialogue and that the strategies be continuous, in interactive and motivating formats, rather than rigid and scholarly.