From Vulnerable to Resilient: Examining Parent and Teen Perceptions on How to Respond to Unwanted Cybergrooming Advances

TL;DR

The paper investigates how parents and teens perceive vulnerable and protective responses to cybergrooming, shifting focus from perpetrator detection to teen-centered resilience. It uses a mixed-method online survey (n=74) with 10 simulated cybergrooming scenarios across six grooming stages to elicit vulnerable and protective responses, yielding a labeled dataset and a stage-based taxonomy. Four vulnerable behavior types (encouraging escalation, accepting an advance, displaying vulnerability, negating risk concerns) and four protective strategies (setting boundaries, directly declining, signaling risk awareness, leveraging avoidance) were identified, with progression aligned to grooming stages. The findings inform education and design for in-the-moment support and challenge the Stranger Danger myth by highlighting nuanced teen boundary navigation. Together, the contributions offer practical guidance for improving teen online safety through resilience-building and sociotechnical interventions.

Abstract

Cybergrooming is a form of online abuse that threatens teens' mental health and physical safety. Yet, most prior work has focused on detecting perpetrators' behaviors, leaving a limited understanding of how teens might respond to such unwanted advances. To address this gap, we conducted an online survey with 74 participants -- 51 parents and 23 teens -- who responded to simulated cybergrooming scenarios in two ways: responses that they think would make teens more vulnerable or resilient to unwanted sexual advances. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we identified four types of vulnerable responses (encouraging escalation, accepting an advance, displaying vulnerability, and negating risk concern) and four types of protective strategies (setting boundaries, directly declining, signaling risk awareness, and leveraging avoidance techniques). As the cybergrooming risk escalated, both vulnerable responses and protective strategies showed a corresponding progression. This study contributes a teen-centered understanding of cybergrooming, a labeled dataset, and a stage-based taxonomy of perceived protective strategies, while offering implications for educational programs and sociotechnical interventions.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Example cybergrooming scenario used in the survey, showing chat dialogue and response prompts.
• Figure 2: Parents’ perceptions of their teens’ prior exposure to unwanted online sexual solicitations and teens’ self-reported experiences.
• Figure 3: Results of the between-group analysis of responses participants believed could make teens more vulnerable across cybergrooming scenarios (adjusted standardized residuals). An asterisk (*) indicates a significant association. Cells shaded blue denote a positive association, while those shaded red denote a negative association.
• Figure 4: Results of the between-group analysis of responses participants believed could make teens safer across cybergrooming stages (adjusted standardized residuals). An asterisk (*) indicates a significant association. Cells shaded blue denote a positive association, while those shaded red denote a negative association.
• Figure 6: Scenarios used in our study.