Image-based sexual violence among adolescents in multicultural schools: Prevalence, perpetrators, and mental health...

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) and unsolicited receipt of sexual images (URSI), sometimes referred to as cyberflashing, are increasingly reported among adolescents, yet evidence from multicultural school settings remains limited.

This study was conducted to examine the prevalence, gender and cultural-origin differences, perpetrator profiles in IBSA-positive cases, and mental health and suicidality correlates of IBSA and URSI among adolescents in Southeast Spain from a digital intersectionality perspective.

A cross-sectional survey of 2220 students aged 12-17 years from 16 public secondary schools in Almería (Spain) was conducted. Cultural origin was operationalized using father's country of birth as a proxy for familial migration background (Spain = 1558; Morocco = 662).

Data on IBSA involving one's own images (authentic and manipulated), URSI, perpetrator profiles in IBSA-positive cases, and nine dichotomous indicators of psychological distress and suicidality were collected. Logistic regressions were estimated separately by origin group, adjusting for age and gender.

IBSA was reported by 7.4% of Spanish-origin adolescents and 9.7% of Moroccan-origin adolescents. Differences by migration-background proxy were concentrated in the emerging modalities, particularly manipulated sexual images/deepfakes (1.4% vs. 3.5%) and economically motivated dissemination (1.0% vs. 2.4%). URSI affected nearly one-third of the sample (30.6% and 28.2%) and showed a clear gender-based pattern in the Spanish-origin group (girls 35.8% vs. boys 25.6%). In IBSA-positive cases, peers and unknown perpetrators were the most frequently reported; girls were more likely than boys to identify unknown perpetrators (48.2% vs. 28.6%). URSI was consistently associated with higher levels of psychological distress and suicidality indicators across origin groups, while IBSA showed more differentiated associations depending on outcome and group.

The findings suggest that image-based sexual violence constitutes a significant and recurrent dimension of adolescents' digital experiences in multicultural school contexts. Its distribution showed patterned differences by gender and migration-background proxy, particularly in specific modalities. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal or cumulative effects.