Orig. title: Estrategias de persuasión en grooming online de menores: un análisis cualitativo con agresores en prisión
Engl. transl.: Persuasion strategies in online grooming of children: A qualitative analysiswith sex offenders in prison
Keywords
Online grooming
Child abuse
online offenders
Persuasion
Vulnerability
Publication details
| Year: | 2017 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.psi.2017.02.001 |
| Issued: | 2017 |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Volume: | 26 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Start Page: | 139 |
| End Page: | 146 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | de Santisteban P.; Gámez-Guadix M. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Psychosocial Intervention |
| Publisher: | Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid |
| Topics: | Risks and harms; Online safety and policy regulation |
| Sample: | 12 men convicted in Spanish prisons, who committed sexual offences against minors aged 16, 11 and 6, with whom they initiated or maintained sexual contact via the Internet. Of the 12 participants, 10 were Spanish and 2 were from Latin American countries. Participants were between 21 and 51 years old (M = 38, SD = 10.32). |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation |
| Implications For Educators About: | Other |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Creating a safe environment for children online |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Researchers; Healthcare |
Abstract
Online grooming (a process in which an adult gains the trust of a child with a view to making sexualcontact of some type) is a serious social problem. Little is currently known about the specific strategiesused by adults to manipulate and persuade children to engage in sexual interaction with them. For thisstudy using qualitative methodology we undertook in-depth interviews with 12 men convicted for onlinegrooming (aged between 21 and 51 years; M = 38, SD = 10.32). The information obtained was comparedwith an analysis of the proven facts of their convictions. The results show that the principal manipulationstrategies used by offenders are deception, corruption (e.g. offering money or gifts to children in returnfor sex), emotionally engaging the child, and aggression. These strategies attempt to actively involveor coerce the child in the abusive process to prevent disclosure. Prevention programmes could benefitenormously by incorporating empirical findings about the tactics and strategies used by offenders tomanipulate and sexually exploit children.
Outcome
The results show that the principal manipulation strategies used by offenders are deception, corruption (e.g. offering money or gifts to children in return for sex), emotionally engaging the child, and aggression. These strategies attempt to actively involve or coerce the child in the abusive process to prevent disclosure
The model generated begins with the access and strategies that offenders deploy to begin contact with children. Subsequently, the adults study the child's environment and vulnerabilities, such as conflicts, emotional or economic deprivation, and then develop strategies tailored to the child's needs, with the ultimate goal of involving the child in the abuse. The result is sexual encounter.