Incident Characteristics
Insight in the context of adolescents’ online sexual interactions is important to understand why these
interactions may entail adverse consequences. The concerns about adolescents’ online sexual interactions
primarily address two issues: (1) male perpetrators sending online sexual requests to minors for the
purpose of sexual abuse and exploitation and (2) adolescents inability to realistically estimate the risks of
their own online sexual behaviour. Sender characteristics (age, gender, familiarity) are important to gain
insight in the context of online sexual interactions. However, adolescents who receive online sexual
requests may also engage in sending these requests. This can indicate that sending and receiving sexual
requests is reciprocal, for example to initiate a romantic relationship, or that sending sexual requests is
related to adolescents’ developing sexuality.