Peer-reviewed article
Examining how children experience, interpret, and respond to incidents of online grooming and solicitation: Results from an Australian study.
Logos K, Brewer R, Seigfried-Spellar KC, Palmer E, Napier S et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This Australian study surveyed 304 children aged 10-17 about their experiences with online grooming and sexual solicitation from strangers. Nearly two-thirds of children experienced grooming-related communication, and about one-third experienced direct solicitation, using various deceptive strategies. Children often did not recognize the risk, perceived communicators as other children rather than adults, and typically responded passively or by blocking contact. The research found that increased online activity, particularly sharing media, was strongly associated with these harmful experiences, but that common safety practices like parental monitoring did not reduce risk.
Key points
- 66% of surveyed children experienced grooming-related communication and 31% experienced solicitation
- Specific strategies ranged from 15% (external enticements) to 54% (risk assessment questions)
- Children mostly perceived such communication as neutral and from other children rather than adults
- Higher digital engagement, especially posting media, was strongly linked to grooming and solicitation experiences
- Digital safety practices including parental mediation and privacy measures showed no protective association
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and based on self-report from a single country, so it cannot establish causal relationships between digital engagement and grooming risk, nor can findings be generalized to other populations. The lack of association with safety practices may reflect that these measures are not implemented effectively or that children engaging most online use safety tools least.
Abstract
Background Child sex offenders employ specific strategies to groom children online for sexual abuse, often involving covert use of deception and emotional manipulation to build trust. Research often narrowly focuses on children's experiences of unwanted solicitation from adults, but misses experiences of covert grooming strategies and those where offenders pose as children-which may be difficult to identify and potentially increases risk of abuse. Objective This study examined the extent to which Australian children encounter a range of grooming and solicitation strategies from strangers online, and assessed their interpretations, responses and risk factors. Participants and setting Participants (N = 304) aged 10-17, proportionally representing the broader Australian population, took part in an online survey. Methods The survey measured communication experiences related to 12 grooming and solicitation strategies from strangers, including comfort levels, perceived communicator age, and responses. It also assessed relationships with individual factors, digital engagements and safety practices. Results Nearly 66% experienced grooming-related communication, and 31% experienced solicitation. Experiences of specific strategies ranged from 15% (external enticements) to 54% (risk assessment). Participants mostly perceived this communication as neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, coming from another child, and responded by doing nothing or restricting the communicator. Increased digital engagement, especially posting media, was strongly linked to experiences of grooming and solicitation communication (ηp2 up to .157). No link was found with implementing digital safety practices, including parental mediation and privacy measures. Conclusions Findings highlight the high prevalence of grooming and solicitation-related communications received by Australian children online. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Educational and awareness interventions (implications discussed but not specifically tested in this study)
- Population
- Australian children aged 10-17 (N=304), proportionally representing the broader population
Key finding
66% experienced grooming-related communication; 31% experienced solicitation