Youth online and their community's preparedness to protect them : mapping youth online social norms and community risk preparedness for online sexual exploitation and abuse of children (OSEAC) cases in the Philippines

Abstract

Youth are increasingly online and so are those who seek to exploit and abuse them. This study explores the social norms of youth online and the risk awareness and preparedness of the Sorsogon City commu-nity for cases of Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children (OSEAC). A complementary mixed-methods approach was applied. A survey was distributed among students at the local national high school and received 407 responses. Two focus groups were conducted with a total of 49 youth. In-terviews were then conducted among a few selected key members in the community. The results re-vealed that the social norm for youth online includes befriending people online and meeting them in person. Youth are likely to be exposed to inappropriate content online. Youth have also become better at securing their privacy online. The community's risk awareness for OSEAC is low. Though the per-ceived harm of OSEAC is high, the community does not believe it is at-risk for OSEAC cases. Key ac-tors are recommended to develop comprehensive sexuality education modules and internet safety mod-els alongside targeted media interventions that can educate both the youth and the community based on current data and trends of youth online