Victimization and perpetration of online sexual violence among Spanish adolescents and its relationship with the consumption of pornography

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship between pornography consumption and the prevalence of victimization and the perpetration of online sexual violence in a representative sample of 4,024 adolescents aged 14 to 17 (M = 15.42; SD = 1.03) in full-time education in Spain. Results showed that 12.1% of participants reported experiencing some form of online sexual victimization, and 1.6% reported having perpetrated such violent behaviours in the past year. Among the adolescents surveyed, 51.6% reported consuming pornography in the last year, with 12.5% of the sample consuming it weekly and 10.6% daily. Female participants and those reporting pornography consumption indicated higher rates of victimization. Additionally, adolescents who consumed pornography also reported engaging in more electronic sexual violence behaviours. The findings underscore the need to implement prevention programmes from an intersectional perspective to support evidence-based risk reduction.