Evaluation of social media privacy, internet addiction in adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse and digital awareness in their parents

Background: Childhood sexual abuse is the exploitation of a child by an adult for sexual purposes. Many cases go undetected and can occur across all socioeconomic levels, ages, genders, and regions. With the rise of internet use, abuse is increasingly occurring online, with some online relationships escalating to in-person sexual contact between the victim and offender. Objective: Our study hypothesizes that adolescents with high internet addiction and difficulty protecting their privacy online may be at greater risk for abuse, and that their parents may have low digital awareness. Methods: Adolescents completed the Sociodemographic Data Form, Social Media Privacy Protection Scale, and Young Internet Addiction Scale (short form), while parents completed the Digital Parent Awareness Scale. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 26. esults: The case group showed higher internet addiction and social media use, while the control group had better social media privacy protection skills. Although not statistically significant, parents in the case group had lower digital awareness. A negative relationship was observed between internet addiction and parental awareness. Discussion: Parental mediation of young people's social media use significantly impacts their privacy management.To prevent abuse, parents must understand the risks of the digital environment and the necessary precautions. Limitation: The primary limitation of this study is the limited sample size, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings.