Atti del 52° Congresso Nazionale: Società Italiana di Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e Sanità Pubblica (SItI)

The analysis of the selected studies (43) provides a picture of online child sexual exploitation, identifying recurrent features of perpetrators and victims. Female sex, social/family problems, psychiatric disorder, low self-esteem, gender non-conformity and problematic internet use place teenagers at greater risk for child sexual abuse. On the other hand, being a male aged 18-25 and having been victims of particularly violent child sexual abuse have been associated with a greater risk of becoming offenders. These data could be used in order to develop suited preventive campaigns addressed both to potential victims and offenders. Several preventive strategies have so far been implemented, but they lack any kind of efficacy evaluation and miss a theory driven approach. Fragmentation of preventive initiatives among the different players involved represents a critical issue, in contrast with the need of institutional public health plans structured in primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.