Relationship between parents’ and daughters' self-reported attitudes, protective behaviours and online behaviours in relation to remote-coerced child sexual abuse

Background: In 2021, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) ran a public awareness campaign aimed at providing parents and 11–13-year-old daughters with the knowledge to build resilience against online groomers who attempt to elicit remote-coerced sexual imagery of children. A parent-child paired response survey was con ducted as part of the campaign monitoring.

Objective: The purpose was to use the survey data to investigate the relationship between awareness campaign exposure, parents/carers’ self-reported attitudes and protective behaviours and children’s self-reported attitudes and online behaviour in relation to remote-coerced child sexual abuse (RCCSA). Participants and setting: 3132 participants, comprising 1566 parents/carers and 1566 of their daughters aged 11–13.

Method: Three surveys were conducted: pre-campaign launch, six weeks into campaign and 12 weeks into campaign. Surveys were completed by parent/carer and child pairs. Correlational and regression analysis was conducted on the aggregated responses.

Findings: Viewing more campaign materials was associated with more positive outcomes. However, this did not increase the likelihood that girls would tell someone if they received a request for explicit material. Daughters are more willing to disclose a request for explicit material when they have stronger ties with friends and family and weaker ties with strangers and when parents are open to seeking information and employing multiple strategies to respond.

Conclusions: Four recommendations for RCCSA prevention were made: prioritise empowerment models over safety models for children, prioritise talking over strict controlling measures, raise awareness of the full range of motivations and offending types, and tailor interventions to specific audiences.