Homophobia is online: sexual victimization and risks on the internet and mental health among bisexual, homosexual, pansexual, asexual, and queer adolescents

Abstract

The first aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and frequency of different forms of online sexual victimization and risks among sexual minorities, including sexting, sexual orientation- and gender-based victimization, unwanted sexual attention, sextortion, and revenge porn. The second aim was to examine whether online sexual victimization and risks mediate the relationship between being a sexual minority and mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety. The sample was composed of 1779 adolescents (50.9% girls) between 12 and 18 years old (mean age = 13.92, SD = 1.27), and 146 of them (8.2%) were sexual minorities (specifically, bisexual, homosexual, pansexual, asexual, or queer adolescents). About 17.3% of sexual minority adolescents have sent a sext. Four out of ten adolescents (41.1%) had experienced online sexual orientation discrimination and 28.4% gender-based victimization. More than forty percent (45.2%) experienced unwanted sexual attention, 9% were victims of sextortion, and 5.5% had been targets of revenge porn. Sexting, online sexual orientation victimization and gender-based victimization, and unwanted sexual attention partially mediated the relationship between being a sexual minority and mental health outcomes (i.e., depression and anxiety). More prevention programs aimed to reduce online sexual victimization and risks for sexual minorities are needed