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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1449183
This article is part of the Research Topic Understanding the Role of New Media in Psychiatry View all 3 articles

Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence among Italian youths: validation of the Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence Victimization Scale (TFSV-VS)

Provisionally accepted
Laura Orsolini Laura Orsolini 1*İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman İmran Gökçen Yılmaz Karaman 2Kerim Selvi Kerim Selvi 3Salvatore Reina Salvatore Reina 1Giulio Longo Giulio Longo 1Umberto Volpe Umberto Volpe 1
  • 1 Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy
  • 2 Faculty of Medicine, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Eskişehir, Türkiye
  • 3 Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Eskişehir, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV), i.e. the use of digital communication technologies for facilitating sexual violence and harassment, represents a concern due to its exponential growth, particularly among youths. Few studies investigated TFSV, mainly due to the lack of a validated assessment tool, such as the TFSV-Victimization scale (TFSV-VS). Our study aims at investigating the TFSV phenomenon in a sample of Italian young adults (aged 18-24), through the validation of the Italian translated version of TFSV-VS. Methods: The study consisted in two phases: 1) development and validation of the Italian version of TFSV-VS; b) evaluation of TFSV lifetime and during the last 12 months among Italian youths. Results: In our sample, 78.6% and 56.1% of subjects reported a lifetime and 12-months TFSV victimization. Digital sexual (70.4% and 46.6%), gender and/or sexuality-based harassment (43% and 29.6%) are those most represented. A gendered and sexuality-based pattern in lifetime TFSV was observed, mainly observed among females (p=0.005) and sexual/gender minority (SGM)(p=0.001). Being female (p<0.001) and perceiving low social support (p = 0.030) were associated with higher subjective distress related to traumatic TFSV experiences. Being female (p<0.001), younger (p=0.006) and perceiving low social support (p=0.030) were associated with the highest psychological distress due to TFSV. Conclusions: Italian TFSV-VS shows good psychometric properties. Our findings observed a gendered trend of TFSV, by suggesting TFSV as a phenomenon influenced by SGM belonging.

    Keywords: Sexual and gender minority (SGM), sexual violence, technology-facilitated sexual violence, TFSV, Victimization

    Received: 14 Jun 2024; Accepted: 20 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Orsolini, Yılmaz Karaman, Selvi, Reina, Longo and Volpe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Laura Orsolini, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy

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