Characteristics that predict exposure to and subsequent intentional viewing of child sexual abuse material among a community sample of Internet users

Napier, Sarah

Characteristics that predict exposure to and subsequent intentional viewing of child sexual abuse material among a community sample of Internet users Sarah Skye Napier, Michael C Seto, Judith Cashmore and Rita Shackel - Elsevier, 2024 - electronic document (19 pages) ; PDF file - Child Abuse & Neglect .

Child Abuse & Neglect, 2024, 156: 106977

Background:
An important element of reducing the sexual abuse and exploitation of children is to understand the behaviors of individuals who consume child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including the predictors of continued use.

Objective:
To investigate predictors of ‘ever viewing’ CSAM and subsequent intentional use among individuals in the community.

Method:
This study used multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify significant predictors of ever viewing CSAM (n = 742) in an anonymous survey of 5512 Internet users in the community, and of subsequent intentional CSAM use among a subset of 459 CSAM viewers.

Results:
The characteristics of respondents that were significantly associated with ever viewing CSAM were being male, older in age (25–34 and 55+ years cf. 18–24 years), residing in Australia, New Zealand, or Canada (cf. the United Kingdom), earlier exposure to adult pornography (<14 years), experiencing childhood physical abuse or neglect, viewing bestiality pornography featuring adults, viewing bondage/S&M (BDSM) pornography featuring adults, being likely (self-reported) to have sexual contact with a child, and visiting pedophilic chat forums online. In the subset sample, almost half (218, 47.5 %) viewed CSAM again intentionally after first exposure. Predictors of subsequent intentional viewing of CSAM after adjusting for age and country of residence were being male, ever experiencing loneliness, searching for CSAM intentionally at first exposure, being likely (self-reported) to have sexual contact with a child, and visiting pedophilic chat forums online.

Conclusions:
The findings have strong implications for prevention of first exposure to CSAM, and of continued CSAM use after exposure does occur. (Authors' abstract). Record #8995


CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL
IMAGE-BASED SEXUAL ABUSE
RISK FACTORS
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
TECHNOLOGY-FACILITATED ABUSE


INTERNATIONAL
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
NEW ZEALAND