Online Sexual Exploitation among Adolescents in Tanzania: Exploring the Stigmas of Victimization and Help-Seeking

• In Event: Understanding Experiences of Cyber-stalking, Technology-supported Violence and Cyber-bullying

Abstract

Drawing upon a sample of 955 adolescents from Tanzania, the current study explores the factors that influence the stigmas of online sexual exploitation (OSE) victimization as well as help-seeking for OSE. The path analysis revealed that while the stigmas of OSE victimization and the stigmas of OSE help-seeking are influenced by shared factors such as gender and self-efficacy, the sizes and directions of the effects are different. In addition, older adolescents reported greater stigmas of OSE victimization, while those from urban areas and those who had experienced sextortion reported greater stigmas of help-seeking. Considering these findings, policy and practice recommendations were made with a particular focus on strengthening prevention and intervention efforts in stigma reduction among groups with certain demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological characteristics.

Authors

• Kai Lin, University of Technology Sydney

• Vincent Cheng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Jessica Chi Mei Li, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Cindy Xinshan Jia, South China Agricultural University

• Xin Jiang, Tulane University

• Budeba Petro Mlyakado, Dar es Salaam University College of Education