Cyber-Risky Behaviors

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This session explores how digital technologies and online platforms are reshaping risky behaviors and their consequences for health and policy. From gambling to pornography to dating, each paper examines the unintended effects of online access and regulation.
The first paper investigates the mental health impacts of legalized online sports gambling on individuals and families with prior gambling addiction, revealing potential social costs of expanding access. The second paper evaluates the effects of ID verification laws on pornography consumption, finding significant declines in mainstream site traffic but substitution toward unregulated content and VPN use. The third paper studies the rollout of Craigslist Personals and its influence on fertility, reproductive health, and relationship outcomes, highlighting how early internet-based dating altered behavior long before app-based platforms emerged.
Together, these papers offer critical insights into how digital policy interventions can both mitigate and unintentionally exacerbate cyber-risky behaviors—offering implications for regulators, health professionals, and communities navigating an increasingly online world.

Policy Area

• Health Policy

Discussants

• Adam Ira Biener, Lafayette College

• Owen Michael Fleming, Wayne State University

Organizer

• Nicole Y Siegal, Indiana University

Individual Presentations

• Pornhibition: Analyzing the Effects of Age Verification Laws on Pornography Consumption and Risky Behaviors - Presenting Author: Emily Davis, University of Notre Dame

• Power to the Platform: Online Dating and Reproductive Health - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Christine P. Piette Durrance, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Presenting Author: Melanie Guldi, University of Central Florida

• Wagering with your well being? Legalization of online gambling and mental health - Presenting Author: Nicole Y Siegal, Indiana University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Coady Wing, Indiana University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Alberto Ortega, Indiana University

• Effects of COVID Lockdowns, Curfews, and Business Closures on Sex Behavior and Realized Fertility - Presenting Author: Dean R Lillard, The Ohio State University