Little red riding hood in the social forest. Online grooming as a public health issue: A narrative review
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Online grooming is a manipulative process through which an adult attempts to arrange a sexual interaction with a minor using internet. Children are constantly exposed to the online world, posing online grooming as a public health issue. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this narrative review is to describe the state of online grooming preventive strategies in recent literature through an overview of online grooming phenomenon. METHODS: Our literature review included research articles and reviews published between January 2014 and March 2019, as well as reference lists of included studies. RESULTS: The analysis provides a picture of online grooming phenomenon, identify recurrent features of perpetrators and victims. Several preventive strategies have been implemented, but they lack any kind of efficacy evaluation and miss a theory driven approach. Fragmentation of preventive initiatives is a critical issue, in contrast with the need of an institutional public health strategy. CONCLUSIONS: While the attention around online grooming is growing, there is still the need of further sensitizing the involved stakeholders and developing evidence based preventive strategies under an institutional guidance.
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Sexual solicitation has been found to be more common in children spending longer time on internet on weekdays, being involved in sexting, having strangers in social networks friends list, playing online games, and chats.
“Sexual solicitation has been found to be more common in children spending longer time on internet on weekdays, being involved in sexting, having strangers in social networks friends list, playing online games, and chats.”
From The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. (2022) · cites this paper as [80]
Minors with problematic internet use are at greater risk of being groomed.
“In general, minors with problematic internet use are at greater risk of being groomed.”
From The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. (2022) · cites this paper as [80]
The risk of online grooming is high even for adolescents whose curiosity and unconsciousness set them at risk of being deceived.
“The risk is high even for adolescents whose curiosity and unconsciousness set them at risk of being deceived [80].”
From The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. (2022) · cites this paper as [80]
The risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of online grooming is of note and may affect mental and well-being of children and adolescents.
“The risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder in the victims is of note and may affect mental and well-being of children and adolescents [80].”
From The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. (2022) · cites this paper as [80]
Teenage girls appear to be more at risk of online grooming, even if the proportion of male victims is considerable too.
“Teenage girls appear to be more at risk, even if the proportion of male victims is considerable too.”
From The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks. (2022) · cites this paper as [80]
There is a paucity of research on the effectiveness of the preventive actions that have been implemented.
“Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research on the effectiveness of the preventive actions that have been implemented (Forni et al., 2020).”
From A Preventive Intervention to Reduce Risk of Online Grooming Among Adolescents (2022) · cites this paper as Forni et al., 2020
In the case of online grooming, a significant need is clear for further studies evaluating the efficacy of interventions.
“in the case of online grooming, a significant need is clear for further studies evaluating the efficacy of interventions (Forni et al., 2020).”
From Effects of a Brief Preventive Intervention in Cyberbullying and Grooming in Adolescents (2021) · cites this paper as Forni et al., 2020
There is a clear need for studies that investigate the efficiency of preventive interventions for online grooming.
“the need is clear for studies that investigate the efficiency of such interventions.”
From Effects of a Brief Preventive Intervention in Cyberbullying and Grooming in Adolescents (2021) · cites this paper as Forni et al., 2020
Our findings imply a relevant step in the online grooming prevention literature, given the lack of efficacy evaluations of online grooming preventive strategies aimed at child and adolescent potential victims.
“Our findings imply a relevant step in the online grooming prevention literature, given the lack of efficacy evaluations of online grooming preventive strategies aimed at child and adolescent”
From Effects of a Brief Preventive Intervention in Cyberbullying and Grooming in Adolescents (2021) · cites this paper as Forni et al., 2020
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Understanding the prolonged impact of online sexual abuse occurring in childhood
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Calvete, E., Cortazar, N., Fernández-González, L., Echezarraga, A., Beranuy, M., León, A., González-Cabrera, J., & Orue, I. (2021) · Psychosocial Intervention · doi:10.5093/pi2020a22 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
“Furthermore, in the case of online grooming, a significant need is clear for further studies evaluating the efficacy of interventions (Forni et al., 2020).”
BackgroundInfluentialRisk Factors for Problematic Social Media Use in Youth: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies
Pazdur, M., Tutus, D., & Haag, A. (2025) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-025-00264-4 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“Child predators can create fake profiles and use grooming tactics to engage young people in risky and exploitative behavior (Forni et al., 2020).”
A Preventive Intervention to Reduce Risk of Online Grooming Among Adolescents
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & Gámez-Guadi, M. (2022) · Psychosocial Intervention · doi:10.5093/pi2022a14 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research on the effectiveness of the preventive actions that have been implemented (Forni et al., 2020).”
Schittenhelm, C., Kops, M., Moosburner, M., Fischer, S. M., & Wachs, S. (2025) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-024-00248-w · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“…et al., 2014), risk factors for victimization (Whittle et al., 2013c), prevention efforts (Wurtele & Kenny, 2016), machine learning models for detecting cybergrooming (Borj et al., 2023), as well as broader reviews tapping different aspects of cybergroom-ing (Choo, 2009; Forni et al., 2020).”
Calvete, E., Fernández-González, L., & Orue, I. (2023) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/08862605221127221 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“, 2014), there is a need for research on the effectiveness of the available interventions (Forni et al., 2020).”
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Moosburner, M., Weber, C., Kuban, T., Wachs, S., Schmidt, A. F., Etzler, S., & Rettenberger, M. (2026) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380251316223 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“While multiple narrative and scoping reviews have focused separately on the grooming process and the characteristics of ICOs (Forni et al., 2020; Kloess et al., 2014) or on-and offline cybergrooming strategies (Ringenberg et al., 2022), previous systematic reviews have only investigated ICOs…”
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Haag, A., Nick, E. A., Chen, S., Telzer, E. H., Prinstein, M. J., & Bonanno, G. A. (2024) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/jora.13045 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…and in particular social media, opens myriad avenues to engage in risky activities, potentially exposing them to possible online-initiated exploitation and victimization, such as grooming, sexual solicitations, and cyberbullying (Craig et al., 2020; Forni et al., 2020; Noll et al., 2021).”
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“Forni et al. (2020) warn that factors such as the length of time online and not knowing who exactly are friends online, relate to an increased risk of cybercrime including online sexual solicitation.”
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‘Catfishes: How do they reel us in?’ Exploring adolescent vulnerabilities to online grooming
Boland, L., & Worthington, R. (2023) · Forensic Update · doi:10.53841/bpsfu.2023.1.143.12
Caracterização das violências sexual e de gênero contra crianças no campo da saúde coletiva
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Präventions- und Interventionsansätze bei Cybergrooming. Ein Narratives Review
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- Authors
- Forni
- Venue
- PubMed
- Publisher
- National Institutes of Health
- Published
- 2021-08-05
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 305-318
- OpenAlex
- W3014531513
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal and Social Justice Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Keywords
- online grooming, child sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse prevention, public health approach, preventive strategies, victims and perpetrators
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Forecasting, Humans, Public Health, Social Media
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