Longitudinal associations of online self-harm with online victimization through cyberbullying, hate speech, online grooming and nonconsensual sexting / Asociaciones longitudinales entre autolesiones en Internet y victimización en línea mediadas por el ciberacoso, el discurso de odio, el abuso sexual online de menores y el sexting no consensuado

Online self-harm refers to the creation, search or sharing of content that includes physical harm as well as participation in online challenges involving self-injury. In this study, we aimed to analyse the reciprocal relationships between online self-harm and various forms of victimization, including cyberbullying, online hate speech, online grooming and nonconsensual sexting, over one year. The study sample comprised 751 adolescents aged 12–15 years ( M = 13.64, SD = 1.16), 54.9% of whom were girls. The participants completed self-report measures at two time points a year apart. The results showed that engaging in online self-harm at time 1 (T1) increased the likelihood of becoming a victim of cyberbullying at time 2 (T2). In turn, T1 cyberbullying increased the probability of experiencing nonconsensual sexting over one year. T1 online self-harm increased the likelihood of becoming a victim of T2 online grooming, while T1 online grooming increased the probability of experiencing nonconsensual sexting after one year. These findings highlight the need for prevention programmes to address online self-harm and thus reduce the risk of victimization on the Internet.