INFAD (Apr 2018)
Consequences of unwanted exposure to online sexual contents in adolescents
Abstract
The Internet has become a useful tool for our adolescents but it is not free of risks. One of them is the unwanted exposure (UE) to sexual content with the consequences that such exposure may have on their psychosexual development. Our objective was to analyse the consequences of being exposed to cybersex taking into account possible differences depending on the age of the first UE, the gender and type of content seen. 284 adolescents (47.9% boys; 52.1% girls) from Castellón (Spain), aged 13-17 years (mean=14.8; SD=0.98) completed an a d h o c questionnaire for the evaluation of different dimensions involved in the UE to cybersex. Results show a high frequency of UE to cybersex (85.9%) being the mean age of the first exposure 12.1 years (SD=1.66). Among the main consequences after the UE, we can highlight symptoms of avoidance/emotional dullness (51.4%), sexual symptoms (44.7%) and increased physiological activation (39.4%). To a lesser extent, symptoms of reexperimentation (29.4%) appeared. Likewise, significant and negative correlations are observed between the age of the first UE and some symptoms of r e e x p e rim e n t a tio n (eg., images/thoughts related to exposure: rho=.232;p=0.001); e m o tio n al d ulln e s s (eg., less ability to feel emotions/affects (rho=-.171;p=0.020); in c r e a s e d a c tiv a tio n (eg., startling easily/exaggeratedly: rho=-0.195;p=0.008); and s e x u al s y m p t o m s (eg., fantasies/impulses to unusual objects/situations: rho=-0.201;p=0.006). Depending on the gender, there are differences in the r e e x p e rie n c e of images/thoughts related to exposure (Chi2=13.89;p=0.000); a v oid a n c e / e m o tio n al d ulln e s s (eg., difficulty in remembering details of the exposure: Chi2=5.99;p=0.010); in c r e a s e d a c tiv a tio n (eg., concentration difficulties: Chi2=8.06;p=0.004); and s e x u al s y m p t o m s (eg., sexual fantasies/impulses towards unusual objects/situations: Chi2=12.84;p=0.000). All of them are more frequent in men, except for the avoidance symptoms. Finally, significant differences are observed in all the symptoms blocks evaluated based on having or not having seen certain contents. It is necessary to educate our adolescents sexually to minimize the negative impact of UE to online sexual content.
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