Internet Sexual Offending: Overview of Potential Contributing Factors and Intervention Strategies

As Internet accessibility and use increase dramatically, more and more people are turning to it for sexual purposes. This growing use of the Internet for sexual purposes indicates that the proportion of Internet sexual offences also will continue to rise dramatically. This article examines the impact of Internet problematic behaviours on the potential for recidivism among online sexual offenders. It argues for specialised treatment for these offenders whilst providing an overview of approaches that are currently used in other areas to treat problematic behaviours and how they could be used in the treatment of Internet sexual offenders. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Characteristics of internet sexual offenders: a review

The review presented in this paper provides some descriptive findings regarding Internet Sex Offenders (ISOs) in comparison to contact sex offenders. In general, Internet Sex Offenders are found to be Caucasian, male, relatively young, highly educated, intelligent, and well-employed. ISOs also appear to be highly sexualised, in both their current lifestyle as well as childhood experiences as victims. ISOs can also be classified into several subgroups, such as child pornography offenders, who again are a heterogeneous group themselves. Professionals dealing with ISOs should be aware that they seem to share similar deficits with contact sex offenders but might differ in some important areas. This information should be kept in mind when reading their files, establishing treatment needs, and interpreting psychometric test results. To date no personality and risk measure is validated on this 'new' or emerging offender category, hence any results should be interpreted with caution

Assessing parental risk in parenting plan (child custody) evaluation cases involving internet sexual behavior

One type of claim in parenting assessment (child custody)1 cases is that one parent, typically the father, is alleged to be engaging in improper or compulsive sexual behavior via the Internet. The sexual behavior at issue can range from frequent sexually explicit chats with other adults to compulsive viewing of adult pornography. In more extreme cases, the problematic behavior may involve viewing child pornography, and in some cases the parent faces actual criminal charges in this regard. The present article reviews the current scientific knowledge base for evaluation of risk in such parenting evaluation cases and provides some guidelines and recommendations for an evaluator in the assessment process

Internet Addiction and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Internet addiction has become a social and public health problem especially among adolescents and adults. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the Internet addiction and discuss the process of treating Internet addiction by using cognitive behavioral therapy for Internet addiction model (CBT-IA). Among the Internet addiction, I have elected to focus on the studies regarding definition, prevalence, risk factors, negatives consequences, and treatment modalities with focus on CBT-IA. In contrast, research on the CBT-IA is still in its early stages. Till now, there is no clear definition for Internet addiction, and these definitions are based on assessment tools that are developed by researchers. There was a variance in the prevalence of Internet addiction among adolescents and adults, which might be related to many factors including assessment instruments and cultural factors. There are many risk factors for Internet addiction that involve socio-demographic, social, psychological factors, and Internet use practices. Many negative consequences result from Internet addiction such as social withdrawal, lack of relationships with families and peers, and psychological problems including depression and anxiety. The CBT-IA is the most effective treatment for Internet addiction. The CBT-IA model is a comprehensive approach, which can be divided into three phases: behavior modification, cognitive restructuring, and harm reduction therapy (HRT)

Internet Addiction Disorder

Internet addiction (IA) was introduced as a new disorder in mid-1990s. Since then, there is growing concern about the addictive nature of the Internet. This chapter is a comprehensive review of published seminal, research and review papers, meta-analyses and book chapters/books on IA in adolescents. The conceptualization of IA, epidemiology, phenomenology, screening, diagnoses, treatment and prevention are discussed with relevant references. The concept of IA is at fetal level with no consensus on definition, norms or clinical criteria. Asian countries such as China and South Korea are affected most. A multination meta-analysis estimated an overall prevalence of 6% for IA. Most of the research identifies IA in gaming, gambling, social networking and cybersex. A few assessment tools have been used with no comparability or cultural sensitivity. Diagnostic criteria are proposed based on those used for substance abuse and pathological gambling. The treatments are mainly psychological with a lot of emphasis on cognitive behavior therapy. The Internet is a very versatile and useful tool for children and adolescents, and it is not advisable to ban it totally. The review highlights education of them on sensible Internet use and supports inclusion of IA in international disease classifications

Investigation of the relation between teacher candidates internet self- efficiency belief and their problematic intended Use

Bu araştırma, öğretmen adaylarının eğitsel internet kullanım öz-yeterlik inanç düzeylerinin, problemli internet kullanım durumlarının ve aralarındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesini amaçlayan betimsel yapıda nicel bir çalışmadır. Çalışma grubu, Ahi Evran Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi, İlköğretim bölümü, Matematik, Fen Bilgisi, Sınıf v e Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenliği a nabilim dalı, Eğitim Bilimleri bölümü Rehberlik ve Psikolojik Danışmanlık anabilim dalı, Türkçe Öğretmenliği ve Bilgisayar ve Öğretim Teknolojileri Eğitimi (BÖTE) bölümlerinde öğrenim g ören 343 eğitim fakültesi lisans öğrencisinden oluşturulmuştur. Veri toplama aracı olarak, “Kişisel Bilgi Formu”, Şahin (2009) tarafından geliştirilen Eğitsel İnternet Kullanımı Öz Yeterlik İnançları Ölçeği ve Ceyhan, Ceyhan ve Gürcan (2007) tarafından geliştirilen Problemli İnternet Kullanımı Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Araştırma, öğretmen adaylarının eğitsel internet kullanımı öz yeterlik inançlarının orta düzeyde ( ? ? =66.2 2) olduğunu göstermiştir. Aynı zamanda internet kullanım deneyiminin eğitsel internet kullanım deneyimini de olumlu olarak farklılaştırdığı görülmüştür. Araştırma aynı zamanda öğretmen adaylarının Problemli İnternet Kullanım (PİK) alışkanlıklarının düşük düzeyde (? ? =42.03) olduğunu ortaya koymuştur.This research is a descriptive study aiming at determining aiming at determining the relation between teacher candidates’ internet self-efficiency belief and their problematic internet use. The study group is formed by 343 students studying at the departments of Primary School Teaching, Elementary Mathematics Teaching, Science Teaching, Social Sciences Education, Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Turkish Teaching and Computer Education and Information Technologies (CEIT) at the Ahi Evran University. Personal Information form, Educational Internet Usage Self-efficiency Belief (EIUSB) scale developed by Şahin and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) scale developed by Ceyhan, Ceyhan and Gürcan (2007) are used as data collecting tool. The results reveal that teacher candidates have mid -level of EIUSB (? ̅ =66.22 ). The results also show that teacher candidates have low level of PIU habits (? ̅ =42.03)

Internet Gaming Disorder in adolescents: personality, psychopathology and evaluation of a psychological intervention combined with parent psychoeducation

Internet Gaming Disorder is an increasingly prevalent disorder, which can have severe consequences in affected young people and in their families. There is an urgent need to improve existing treatment programs; these are currently hampered by the lack of research in this area. It is necessary to more carefully define the symptomatic, psychosocial and personality characterization of these patients and the interaction between treatment and relevant variables. The objectives of this study were three: (1) to analyze the symptomatic and personality profiles of young patients with Internet Gaming Disorder in comparison with healthy controls; (2) to analyze the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral treatment on reducing symptomatology; and (3) to compare the results of that treatment with or without the addition of a psychoeducational group offered to the parents. The final sample consisted of 30 patients consecutively admitted to a specialized mental health unit in Spain, and 30 healthy controls. The experimental group received individual cognitive-behavioral therapy. The experimental group was divided into two subgroups (N = 15), depending on the addition or not of a psychoeducational group for their parents (consecutively admitted). Scores on the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (MACI), the Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R), the State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI), and other clinical and psychopathological measures were recorded. The patients were re-assessed post treatment (except for the MACI questionnaire). Compared with healthy controls, patients did not differ in symptomatology at baseline, but scored significantly higher in the personality scales: Introversive and Inhibited, and in the expressed concerns scales: Identity Confusion, Self-Devaluation, and Peer Insecurity and scored significantly lower in the Histrionic and Egotistic scale. In the experimental group, pre-post changes differed statistically on SCL-90-R scales Hostility, Psychoticism, and Global Severity Index and on the diagnostic criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder, regardless of the addition of a psychoeducational group for parents. Pre-post changes did not differ between experimental subgroups. However, the subgroup without psychoeducation for parents presented statistically higher drop-out rates during treatment. The results of this study are based on a sample of patients seeking treatment related to problems with online gaming, therefore, they may be of value for similar patients.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Tratamiento cognitivo-conductual de la adicción a videojuegos de rol online: fundamentos de propuesta de tratamiento y estudio de caso

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar una propuesta de tratamiento cognitivo-conductual para la intervención en la adicción a video juegos. Se presenta el caso de un varón de 21 años con problemas con el uso de los videojuegos. Se expone el procedimiento en cada una de las fases de las que consta el tratamiento, así como los resultados de su eficacia en un estudio de caso. Después de trece semanas de intervención se aprecian importantes cambios en el nivel de dependencia. Los resultados muestran una disminución significativa del tiempo de uso del ordenador y de juego, así como una mejoría del funcionamiento personal y social del paciente

Treatment Effects of Therapeutic Interventions for Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The prevalence of gaming disorder (GD) is assumed to be between 2% - 5%. The treatment effect of different therapeutic interventions of GD has not been studied extensively. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to identify all clinical GD-studies with a control group, determine the effect of the interventions and examine moderators. Clinical studies applying a form of therapeutic intervention on participants with GD using an appropriate comparison group was searched using electronic databases, previous reviews and reference lists. Data on type of treatment, name of outcome measurement, symptom level and other study characteristics was extracted and analysed using meta-analysis and meta-regression. A total of 38 studies, 76 effect sizes, and 9524 participants were included in this meta-analysis. RoB2 and ROBINS-I risk of bias tools were used to assess within-study bias. A correlational hierarchical (CHE) working model with robust variance estimation (RVE) of the overall effect on symptom level yielded a moderate to large summary estimate (g = 0.56, 95% CI [0.40, 0.71], p < .001, k = 37). Egger’s sandwich test, funnel plot inspections, and sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess risk of bias between studies. The results of this study indicate that there is an overall effect using a variety of therapeutic interventions on GD. However, the results are weakened by moderators, a probable small-study effect or publication bias, and a small number of studies. The field needs more higher quality studies for different therapeutic interventions