From Vulnerable to Resilient: Examining Parent and Teen Perceptions on How to Respond to Unwanted Cybergrooming Advances

TL;DR

This study explores how teens and parents perceive responses to cybergrooming, identifying vulnerable and protective behaviors, and provides a taxonomy to inform educational and intervention strategies.

Contribution

It offers a new teen-centered understanding of responses to cybergrooming, including a labeled dataset and a stage-based taxonomy of protective strategies.

Findings

Four types of vulnerable responses identified

Four types of protective strategies identified

Responses and strategies escalate with risk level

Abstract

Cybergrooming is a form of online abuse that threatens teens' mental health and physical safety. Yet, most prior work has focused on detecting perpetrators' behaviors, leaving a limited understanding of how teens might respond to such unwanted advances. To address this gap, we conducted an online survey with 74 participants -- 51 parents and 23 teens -- who responded to simulated cybergrooming scenarios in two ways: responses that they think would make teens more vulnerable or resilient to unwanted sexual advances. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we identified four types of vulnerable responses (encouraging escalation, accepting an advance, displaying vulnerability, and negating risk concern) and four types of protective strategies (setting boundaries, directly declining, signaling risk awareness, and leveraging avoidance techniques). As the cybergrooming risk escalated, both vulnerable responses and protective strategies showed a corresponding progression. This study contributes a teen-centered understanding of cybergrooming, a labeled dataset, and a stage-based taxonomy of perceived protective strategies, while offering implications for educational programs and sociotechnical interventions.