Cyber sexual grooming : a literature review on theories and internet psychology.

• Main Authors: Chew, Wei Xin., Tang, Donica Li Hui.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52532
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Technological advancements in the cyberspace have proven to be a double-edged sword, providing swift accessibility to a wealth of information and the concurrent potential for unethical misuse. In the case of the latter, Cyber Sexual Grooming (CSG) is becoming a growing concern for law enforcements worldwide. The Internet medium facilitates CSG, where predators draw children into a façade relationship through inappropriate sexual advances and manipulations, for the purpose of subsequent sexual victimization. This paper emphasizes the shortcomings of existing research in this field and seeks to address four main issues. First, it evaluates the discrepancies and inadequacies surrounding the definition and operational construct of CSG in past literature. Second, the paper reviews the behavioral characteristics of CSG perpetrators and victims, exposing and correcting the prevailing myths that offenders are violent pedophiles and strangers to the victims. Third, it illustrates how the CSG process unfolds through five different stages with unique behavioral patterns. Four theories on sexual offending are highlighted, explaining the idiosyncratic combinations of motivation behind CSG that arise from the interaction between personality, developmental, and situational components. Finally, the dissertation explores how the psychology of the Internet increases and intensifies the challenges to curb CSG in comparison to offline sexual grooming. Insights into key characteristics of the online milieu are provided, accounting for the exacerbated difficulties in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting CSG. A multidimensional approach is recommended, urging caregivers, schools, law enforcement authorities, and most importantly, adolescents to remain proactive in the prevention and intervention of CSG.