Understanding Mental Health and Childhood Adversity in Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation Perpetrators

A Systematic Review of the Evidence

Bibliographic Data

ID21737708
AuthorsSabrina Page (0009-0002-0410-8724, Institute of Child Health, corresponding author), Eva Notté (0009-0003-8471-1773, Terre des Hommes), Isabelle Pearson (0000-0001-8857-5703, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), Iqra Ilyas (Independent researcher), Norsayyidatina Che Rozubi (Sultan Idris Education University), Kimberley Anderson (0000-0002-2500-3078, Terre des Hommes), Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar (Michigan State University), Carleigh Slater (University of Edinburgh), Deborah Fry (0000-0001-5211-1296, Institute of Child Health)
Year2026
Pages15248380261451792-15248380261451792
Publication date2026-07-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTrauma Violence & Abuse (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1524-8380 • E-ISSN: 1552-8324
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/15248380261451792
PMID42417149
OpenAlexW7167664119
LanguageEN
References cited71

This systematic review examined the mental health conditions, emotional characteristics, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) documented among individuals who perpetrate technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (TF-CSEA). Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, 10 databases and grey literature sources were searched for studies published from 1989 to March 2024. A narrative synthesis of 22 studies, comprising justice-involved, self-referred, and anonymous online samples from predominantly Western, high-income countries ( n = 8 to 3,500), revealed that TF-CSEA perpetrators are heterogeneous. Depression (29%–60%), anxiety (28%–52%), antisocial personality disorder (~42%), and compulsive sexual behaviour (42%) were prevalent across identification methods. Emotional dysregulation was pervasive, with shame, guilt, chronic loneliness, social avoidance, and emotional detachment consistently reported as both antecedents to and consequences of offending. ACEs were widely documented, including childhood sexual abuse (17%–45%), emotional abuse (27%–31%), and physical neglect, with higher cumulative ACE burden associated with more compulsive offending patterns. Subgroup analyses identified two potentially distinct profiles: justice-identified individuals exhibited more entrenched antisocial and externalising traits, whilst self-referred or anonymously identified individuals more commonly reported internalising symptoms, emotional conflict, and desire to desist. These findings are contextualised within established multi-factor models of sexual offending, acknowledging that ACEs and mental health represent only a subset of relevant factors alongside sexual deviance, antisocial cognition, and opportunity structures. Given the predominance of cross-sectional designs, convenience samples, and the absence of direct comparison with contact-only offenders, these associations are hypothesis-generating. Future research priorities include prospective longitudinal designs, standardised measurement, comparison groups, and greater demographic diversity

Anxiety · Child abuse · Child sexual abuse · Injury prevention · Mental health · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Psychological abuse · Sexual abuse · Suicide prevention · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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