Neglect, online invasive exploitation, and childhood sexual abuse in Hong Kong: Breaking the links.

Childhood sexual abuse Invasive exploitation Neglect Unwanted online sexual experiences

Journal

Child abuse & neglect
ISSN: 1873-7757
Titre abrégé: Child Abuse Negl
Pays: England
ID NLM: 7801702

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
19 Dec 2023
Historique:
received: 29 05 2023
revised: 25 11 2023
accepted: 30 11 2023
medline: 22 12 2023
pubmed: 22 12 2023
entrez: 21 12 2023
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of maltreatment that involves a child in sexual activity that she or he cannot fully comprehend or is unable to give informed consent to. The empirical link between child neglect and contact child sexual abuse is well established but little research examines mediators that explain this link. This study tests online risk behaviors and unwanted sexual experiences online as sequential mediators of the neglect - CSA relationship. The study uses a representative cross-sectional sample of 1097 Hong Kong adolescents. Preacher and Hayes' (2008) non-parametric bootstrap approach was used to test three mediation hypotheses. Baseline logistic regression models showed neglected children had 11.2 times higher odds of reporting contact CSA (p < .001). Similarly, neglect was associated with 3.5 times higher odds of more online risk behavior (p < .001), which in turn was associated with 2.7 times higher odds of more online invasive exploitation (p < .001). Online invasive exploitation was associated with 2.7 times higher odds of reporting offline contact CSA (p < .001). The study found online risk behaviors to be a significant mediator of the relationship between neglect and online invasive exploitation (unwanted online sexual experiences). Online invasive exploitation, in turn, mediated the relationship between online risk behaviors and offline contact CSA. The findings highlight the importance of intervening against neglect as it appears to play a vital role in the etiology of contact CSA in Hong Kong.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of maltreatment that involves a child in sexual activity that she or he cannot fully comprehend or is unable to give informed consent to. The empirical link between child neglect and contact child sexual abuse is well established but little research examines mediators that explain this link.
OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
This study tests online risk behaviors and unwanted sexual experiences online as sequential mediators of the neglect - CSA relationship.
PARTICIPANT AND SETTING UNASSIGNED
The study uses a representative cross-sectional sample of 1097 Hong Kong adolescents.
METHODS METHODS
Preacher and Hayes' (2008) non-parametric bootstrap approach was used to test three mediation hypotheses.
RESULTS RESULTS
Baseline logistic regression models showed neglected children had 11.2 times higher odds of reporting contact CSA (p < .001). Similarly, neglect was associated with 3.5 times higher odds of more online risk behavior (p < .001), which in turn was associated with 2.7 times higher odds of more online invasive exploitation (p < .001). Online invasive exploitation was associated with 2.7 times higher odds of reporting offline contact CSA (p < .001). The study found online risk behaviors to be a significant mediator of the relationship between neglect and online invasive exploitation (unwanted online sexual experiences). Online invasive exploitation, in turn, mediated the relationship between online risk behaviors and offline contact CSA.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
The findings highlight the importance of intervening against neglect as it appears to play a vital role in the etiology of contact CSA in Hong Kong.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38128374
pii: S0145-2134(23)00579-3
doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106591
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

106591

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Auteurs

Clifton R Emery (CR)

Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: cemery@hku.hk.

Paul W C Wong (PWC)

Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: paulw@hku.hk.

Virgil Haden-Pawlowski (V)

Save the Children Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Cayla Pui (C)

Save the Children Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: Cayla.Pui@savethechildren.org.

Grace Wong (G)

Save the Children Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: Grace.Wong@savethechildren.org.

Steve Kwok (S)

Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Amy Yinan Liu (AY)

Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.

Alhassan Abdullah (A)

College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Australia. Electronic address: alhassan.abdullah@flinders.edu.au.

Classifications MeSH