Victims of Technology-Facilitated Abuse: Prevalence, Awareness, Dynamics, Help-seeking and Reporting, United States, 2021 (ICPSR 38917)
Version Date: Dec 10, 2024 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
David Finkelhor, University of New Hampshire. Crimes Against Children Research Center;
Heather A. Turner, University of New Hampshire. Crimes Against Children Research Center
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38917.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study was a cross-sectional, national (United States) survey of victims designed to help law enforcement and policymakers to better understand and respond to technology-facilitated abuse (TFA), including non-consensual pornography, sextortion, and cyberstalking. The specific goals for this study were:
- Provide information on prevalence, offense dynamics, and levels of awareness about TFA among young adults to help inform policy on this issue.
- Develop information on the risk and protective factors associated with TFA victimization to help direct prevention and protection factors.
- Improve understanding of what promotes or prevents help-seeking and police reporting of TFA exposure; and obtain baseline data to allow monitoring of help-seeking improvements over time.
- Assess costs and consequences of TFA victimization to help inform policy prioritizations and better focus intervention among victims.
This study consisted of four phases. In Phase 1, the research team conceptualized and operationalized TFA domains in consultation with subject matter experts. In Phase 2, cognitive interviews were conducted with students and staff from a large state university (n=13). In phase 3, a pilot survey was distributed and data collected from 111 respondents. Phase 4 was the full-scale administration of the final survey. Respondents were Ipsos KnowledgePanel (KP) panelists aged 18-28 (n=2,639). This collection contains only the data from the full survey.
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Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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This dataset includes descriptions of incidents of sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, and sharing sexual pictures/videos without consent (some involving minors) that some may find disturbing.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to conduct a national survey of victims of technology-facilitated abuse (TFA), which included non-consensual image-sharing, cyberstalking, and sextortion, to help law enforcement and policymakers better understand and respond to these crimes.
Study Design View help for Study Design
To develop the questionnaire, the research team conceptualized and operationalized technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) domains in consultation with subject matter experts, then conducted cognitive interviews with young adult students and staff (n=13) from a large state university to gauge understanding of and feedback on the questionnaire items. A pilot study was administered on October 19-20, 2021 (n=111), with the main study administered November 19 to December 28, 2021 (n=2,639 in the final dataset). One adult from a representative sample of households was invited to complete the survey. Selected panel members received an email invitation. Respondents received a cash-equivalent incentive credited to their KnowledgePanel account upon survey completion.
Sample View help for Sample
The target population was English-speaking, non-institutionalized adults aged 18 to 28 residing in the United States. The sample was divided into two subgroups for comparison based on eight screening questions: adults who reported experiencing technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) both before and after turning 18, and adults who did not report any such abuse. Out of 2,710 completed interviews, 71 cases who did not respond to screening questions were excluded (n=2,639). 1,215 respondents were classified as having experienced TFA, and 1,424 respondents were classified as not having experienced TFA. 31 cases were recoded from the TFA group to the non-TFA group during data analysis.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
U.S. young adults aged 18-28.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The main measure was technology-facilitated abuse, operationalized as several different types of victimization: non-consensual image sharing, non-consensual image taking, forced image recruitment, threatened image sharing, cyberstalking, unwanted sexual solicitation, older partner voluntary relationships, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Participants were asked if they had experienced any of the above incident types, with follow-up questions to understand the dynamics of each exposure: age at first victimization, number of perpetrators, perpetrator demographics, nature of the threat, and what was received in exchange for the image. Participants were also asked about other childhood adversities, other types of victimizations experienced, help-seeking behavior from authorities, and effects on mental health and relationships. Demographic items included gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
In the main study, 13,884 invitations to panel members were fielded. 2,710 individuals responded and qualified for the survey, excluding breakoffs (19.5% completion rate).
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
- Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire
- Trauma Symptom Checklist
Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2024-12-10
Version History View help for Version History
2024-12-10 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Weight View help for Weight
Ipsos KnowledgePanel created three sets of weights to account for differential nonresponse: SCREEN_WT, WEIGHT1, and WEIGHT2.
SCREEN_WT: Benchmark distributions for U.S. adults, age 18-28, from the 2021 U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) were used for the raking adjustment among 2,639 total eligible and terminated respondents.
WEIGHT1: Benchmarks for those who reported experiencing technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) and those who did not were generated from the weighted total respondents using SCREEN_WT and included in the raking adjustment for the 1,928 eligible respondents.
WEIGHT2: This variable scaled WEIGHT1 for TFA and non-TFA respondents separately so that their weighted total count matched the unweighted sample size by group.
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One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.