title: Adult-Adult and Adult-Child/Adolescent Online Sexual Interactions: An Exploratory Self-Report Study on the Role of Situational Factors.
abstract: Alcohol intoxication, sexual arousal, and negative emotional states have been found to precede certain sexual behaviors. Using data from an online self-report survey distributed to adults (N = 717; 423 men and 304 women), we compared adults with adult online sexual interactions (n = 640; 89.3%) to adults with interactions with a child or an adolescent (n = 77; 10.7%) on how much they reported being affected by the following factors surrounding the time of the interactions: alcohol intoxication, sexual arousal, sadness, boredom, stress, and shame. We found that those with a child or adolescent contact reported higher sexual arousal and more shame before the interaction, compared with those with an adult contact. In addition, the levels of negative emotional states varied when levels before the interactions were compared with levels after the interactions, suggesting that engaging in online sexual interactions alleviated negative emotional states, at least temporarily. The alleviatory effects, however, were accompanied by higher levels of shame after the interactions. Overall, adults that engage in online sexual interactions have remarkably similar perceptions of the situation surrounding these activities, independent of the age of their online contacts. Limitations of the study are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology and Logopedics , Abo Akademi University.
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bergen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology and Logopedics , Abo Akademi University.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahto
authors.affiliation: b Department of Forensic Psychiatry , University of Regensburg.|c Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Dresden.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: d Department of Psychology , University of Cologne.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Imhoff
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology and Logopedics , Abo Akademi University.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Antfolk
authors.affiliation: b Department of Forensic Psychiatry , University of Regensburg.
authors.forename: Petya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schuhmann
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology and Logopedics , Abo Akademi University.
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alanko
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology and Logopedics , Abo Akademi University.
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santtila
authors.affiliation: e Department of Psychology , University of Turku.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jern
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal; D001887:Boredom; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D057566:Self Report; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012752:Shame; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology