Coercive-sexting: Predicting adolescent initial exposure to electronic coercive sexual dating violence

Area of Science:

• Adolescent health
• Dating violence research
• Digital safety

Background:

• Electronic coercion, a form of dating violence, involves eliciting explicit content and is linked to negative outcomes like depression and delinquency.
• While prevalence is known, the timing and predictors of initial exposure to electronic coercion remain understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the timing and prevalence of initial exposure to electronic coercion in adolescents.
• To identify predictors of electronic coercion perpetration in two distinct adolescent age groups.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the four-year prospective longitudinal Strengthening Healthy Adolescent Relationships and Environments Study (N=1000).
• Employed Kaplan-Meier survival analyses to assess initial exposure timing.
• Used Cox Hazards models to evaluate predictors of electronic coercion perpetration between ages 13-15 and 16-18.

Main Results:

• Risk of initial exposure to electronic coercion significantly increases with age in both younger (7% at 13 to 19.1% by 15) and older (18.6% at 16 to 31.6% by 18) cohorts.
• Predictors for ages 13-15 included high electronic use, dating behaviors, electronic harassment, and pornography consumption.
• Predictors for ages 15-18 included Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and dating behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Greater engagement in dating behaviors is a consistent predictor across adolescent age groups.
• Electronically mediated violence, such as harassment and pornography use, is a key early predictor for younger adolescents.
• Prevention strategies should commence before age 13 due to escalating risks through mid-adolescence.