Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Author Spotlight: Unveiling the Connection Between Sleep Disorders and Cognitive Symptoms in Depression
Published on: April 26, 2024
Online sexual victimization in youth: predictors and cross-sectional associations with depressive symptoms
Heléne Zetterström Dahlqvist1, Katja Gillander Gådin1
1Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden.
Aim:
The aim was to analyze (i) the prevalence of online unwanted sexual solicitation (USS) victimization, (ii) predictors of online USS and (iii) the associations between online USS and depressive symptoms in Swedish pupils in grades 7-9.
Methods:
An electronic questionnaire was disseminated in 2011 in schools in a municipality in the northern part of Sweden. Total n = 1193 (boys n = 566; girls n = 627). Logistic regression models were fitted to test the cross-sectional associations between predictors of online USS and depressive symptoms, respectively.
Results:
One third of girls and every fifth boy reported online USS victimization. In boys, predictors associated with online USS were offline bullying and sexual harassment victimization. Only offline sexual harassment victimization was associated with online USS in girls. Girls victimized by online USS had about twice the likelihood to report depressive symptoms compared to non-victimized girls. There were no associations between online USS and depressive symptoms in boys. While offline bullying was associated with depressive symptoms in both genders, offline sexual harassment victimization increased the likelihood to report depressive symptoms in girls only.
Conclusions:
Online USS was common among Swedish youth, particularly among girls. Schools, parents and internet safety educators should look at co-occurrence of different forms of victimization as offline victimization was a predictor of online USS. Online USS was associated with depressive symptoms in girls and may hence be a factor driving gender inequity in mental health in youth.
Related Concept Videos
Cross-Sectional Research
Finding Volume Using Cross-Sectional Area
Profile Leveling and Cross Sections
Spinal Cord: Cross-sectional Anatomy
Gray Matter and its Components
Central to the gray matter is...
Long-term Depression
Crossing Over
The homologous pairs of sister chromosomes—one from the maternal and one from the paternal genome—then begin to align alongside each other lengthwise, matching corresponding DNA positions in a process...

