As children’s lives become increasingly intertwined with digital spaces, research shows sexual abuse has evolved alongside technology expanding both in reach and complexity.
Dr. Jennifer O’Brien, an associate professor at the UTA School of Social Work, studies what is known as technology-facilitated sexual abuse, or TFSA. While she recently served as an expert witness in a case involving online exploitation, she said the larger issue extends well beyond any single courtroom.
“At the end of the day, this is about understanding prevalence and impact. When we look at the data, this is not rare,” O’Brien said. “This is affecting a lot of kids.”
Dr. Jennifer O'Brien, an associate professor at the UTA School of Social Work, poses for a photo. (Courtesy Photo)
A recent nationally representative study found that 15.6% of individuals under the age of 18 in the United States experience some form of technology-facilitated sexual abuse.
When researchers examined in-person child sexual abuse alone, the national prevalence was just over 13%. When technology-facilitated abuse was added, overall prevalence of child sexual abuse rose to nearly 22%.
“That means two to three kids at your child’s last birthday party have or will experience some form of sexual abuse before age 18, either face-to-face, technology-facilitated, or both” O’Brien said. “The other thing that we learned is that almost 50% of cases where there's in-person child sexual abuse, there's also a technology facilitated sexual abuse component.”
A significant portion of TFSA involves image-based sexual abuse, including the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images. Fewer than 11% of those incidents are reported to police, according to the study. Of these cases, a study on which O’Brien was a contributor found that shame and stigma presented major barriers to disclosure.
“There’s a new kind of victim-blaming that emerges,” O’Brien said. “People ask, ‘Why did you send the picture?’ instead of asking, ‘Why did someone violate your trust by sharing it?’”
In many cases, the person who shares the image is not a stranger but a peer. What may begin as consensual sharing within a relationship can become abuse if images are distributed without consent.
The permanence of digital content intensifies the harm. Even when images are removed from platforms, they may already have been downloaded or reshared.
“You never get to really close the door on that abuse,” O’Brien said.
Within TFSA, O’Brien studies cases involving commercial exchange, often referred to as child sex trafficking. Nationally, about 1.7% of children experience this form of exploitation.
Research shows higher vulnerability among youth facing food or housing insecurity and among sexual and gender minority youth, who may rely more heavily on online communities.
Survivors frequently describe the long-term impact as severe, including trauma symptoms and ongoing mental health challenges. Research also indicates that prior victimization increases the risk of future victimization.
“When we validate that trauma as real and serious, we’re not only helping a child in that moment,” O’Brien said. “We may also be preventing future victimization.”
O’Brien is involved in multiple large-scale studies aimed at strengthening prevention and services. Those include a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded randomized controlled trial evaluating a primary prevention program for child sex trafficking and a National Institute of Justice-funded longitudinal study examining outcomes for trafficking survivors.
She has also studied law enforcement responses and the mental health of investigators who handle child sexual abuse material cases.
Awareness, she said, must be paired with research-driven solutions.
“These kids and families need real support,” O’Brien said. “The more we understand the scope and impact, the better positioned we are to protect them.”