Experiences and Perceptions of Online Sexual Solicitation and Grooming of Minors: A Retrospective Report

ABSTRACT

Internet predation of minors has become a focus of child sexual abuse research and legislation. Studies reveal that many American youth report experiencing sexual solicitation and sexual grooming online, but the youth perspective of these experiences has not been examined. This study examined retrospective perspectives of online sexual solicitation and grooming experienced as a minor. Participants were 1,133 undergraduate college students at two public institutions in the United States who completed an online survey retrospectively exploring Internet behaviors, experiences of online sexual solicitation or online grooming, and perceptions of the experience. Results showed that one-quarter of total participants conversed with adult strangers online as minors. Importantly, 65% of participants who chatted with adult strangers as minors experienced sexual solicitation from an adult stranger. Twenty-three percent of 1,133 total participants recalled having a long, intimate conversation as a minor with an adult stranger from an online chatroom that followed a pattern of online sexual grooming. While less than half (38%) of the youth who engaged in an intimate online relationship with an adult stranger met the adult in-person, a large majority of those who did meet in-person (68%) reported physical sexual intercourse. Implications for Internet safety and guidelines are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Children and adolescents
• prevention
• victimization
• internet sex crimes

Disclosure of interest

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical standards and informed consent

This study was reviewed and approved for human subjects by the City University of New York Human Research Protection Program (HRPP).

Notes

¹ The exact text of the web posting read “The purpose of this research study is to examine the experiences of individuals who participated in Internet or mobile phone chatrooms during childhood and adolescence.” Despite the potential for this language to limit participation to only those who used chatrooms, 41% of the sample did not use chatrooms.

² “Their” refers to the adult stranger

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily A. Greene-Colozzi

Emily A. Greene-Colozzi, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in the Criminal Justice Doctoral Program at The Graduate Center/City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY.

Georgia M. Winters

Georgia M. Winters, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ.

Brandy Blasko

Brandy Blasko, Ph.D., is a clinician with the Joseph J. Peters Institute, Philadelphia, PA and an adjunct assistant professor at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Elizabeth L. Jeglic

Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY.