Peer-reviewed article
Understanding cyber grooming in children and adolescents: a scoping review of risk factors and prevention strategies.
Kaya K, Erdem Z ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This scoping review examines cyber grooming—the manipulation and exploitation of children online—by analyzing risk factors and prevention strategies across published literature from 2000 to 2025. The review identifies that adolescents with high online engagement, limited digital literacy, emotional vulnerability, and weak social support face increased grooming risk, while offenders use emotional manipulation and secrecy to exploit them. Effective prevention requires coordinated approaches combining digital literacy education, family involvement, psychological support, platform safety measures, and legal protections. The review identifies significant gaps in understanding long-term psychological outcomes and the effectiveness of intervention programs.
Key points
- Adolescents at higher risk have high online engagement, limited digital literacy, emotional vulnerability, and inadequate social support
- Offenders use emotional manipulation, secrecy, and digital communication tools to establish trust and maintain control
- Effective prevention requires multidimensional approaches: digital literacy education, family involvement, psychological support, platform safety, and legal protections
- Important research gaps remain regarding long-term psychological outcomes, prevalence variability, and intervention effectiveness
- Cyber grooming is a multifaceted phenomenon shaped by individual vulnerabilities, online environments, and offender manipulation strategies
Limitations
This scoping review synthesizes existing literature but does not provide original empirical data on cyber grooming outcomes or intervention effectiveness. The review identifies significant evidence gaps, meaning definitive conclusions about which prevention strategies work best remain unavailable.
Abstract
The increasing digitalization of children's daily lives has created new opportunities for communication, education, and social interaction while simultaneously increasing exposure to online exploitation risks. Among these risks, child grooming and cyber grooming have emerged as significant psychological, social, and public health concerns. Cyber grooming extends traditional grooming processes into digital environments through the use of anonymity, persistent communication, and technological accessibility, enabling offenders to manipulate and exploit children and adolescents in online settings. This scoping review aimed to examine the existing literature on grooming and cyber grooming, focusing on psychological, social, technological, and preventive dimensions. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for studies published between 2000 and 2025. Relevant findings were synthesized thematically to evaluate victim and perpetrator characteristics, developmental and environmental risk factors, prevention strategies, and legal approaches. The reviewed literature indicates that adolescents with high online engagement, limited digital literacy, emotional vulnerability, and inadequate social support may be at increased risk of grooming victimization. Offenders frequently utilize emotional manipulation, secrecy, and digital communication tools to establish trust and maintain control. Current evidence further suggests that effective prevention requires multidimensional approaches integrating digital literacy education, family involvement, psychological support, platform safety measures, and legal protections. Despite growing awareness of cyber grooming, important gaps remain regarding long-term psychological outcomes, prevalence variability, and the effectiveness of intervention programs. This review highlights cyber grooming as a multifaceted developmental and psychological phenomenon shaped by the interaction of individual vulnerabilities, online environments, and offender manipulation strategies. Effective prevention therefore requires coordinated, evidence-based, and multidisciplinary child protection efforts integrating psychological, technological, educational, and legal perspectives to improve children's safety and well-being in digital environments.