A longitudinal study of patterns of direct online harms victimization in six EU countries

Addressing the ubiquity of online harms, such as threats of violence and sexual harassment, is a priority for citizens and policymakers globally. However, comprehensive cross-national insights about online harms victimization remain limited. Our study addresses this gap in the literature. Using three-wave panel data from adult samples from six EU countries (Poland, N = 731; Italy, N = 947; Ireland, N = 468; Germany, N = 736; France, N = 826; Finland, N = 924), we aimed to identify distinct patterns of direct online harms victimization and their longitudinal dynamics. Additionally, we sought to assess whether certain responses to victimization (e.g., assertiveness) predict persistent exposure to online harms over three years. Latent Markov Models highlighted four states of victimization experiences in all studied countries: non-victimization, which was the largest state, infrequent experiences of a small number of diverse harms, and infrequent and frequent confrontation with nine assessed harms. While non-victimization was stable over time, this cannot be said for any of the three other states, which reflected qualities of poly-victimization. Predictors of ongoing victimization could – especially for the infrequent and frequent broad victimization states – not be confidently estimated. Acknowledging this limitation, we carefully conclude that there was no clear evidence that strategies for coping with victimization predict the stability of (or transitions between) victimization patterns over two or three years.