A Longitudinal Study of Repeat Online Harms Poly-victimization in Six EU Countries

Using the internet increases the risk of experiencing a wide range of harms, such as threats of violence or sexual harassment. Different online harms have commonly been examined as distinct phenomena; we propose that they ought to be considered jointly. Illustrating this point, we explore in six EU countries what proportion of individuals were, in the past 12 months, directly targeted by multiple rather than single harms online. We also assess whether poly-victimization persists over three years. Lastly, we investigate to what extent socio-demographic characteristics and specific responses to victimization (e.g., assertiveness) facilitate repeat online harms poly-victimization. Drawing on a three-wave longitudinal dataset (Poland, n = 731; Italy, n = 947; Ireland, n = 468; Germany, n = 736; France, n = 826; Finland, n = 924), latent transition analyses demonstrated that in wave 1, between 10% and 32% of participants indicated having been directly confronted with multiple harms. No subsample reporting single harm victimization was identified. Poly-victimization experiences were somewhat less stable than expected. There is also no robust evidence to suggest predictors of ongoing exposure to multiple harms. In summary, the negative impact of online harms is underestimated if dynamics of repeat and poly-victimization are disregarded.