What is GROOMING and how to prevent it

New technologies have turned out to be a great advance in our society and today, those younger people who do not have a social profile on the networks are left out of their reality. Having a profile on social networks can bring many advantages in socialization and has become the main source of entertainment.

However, we are faced with a reality and that is that its use has facilitated the appearance of more cases of sexual abuse of minors. Before we had to worry that the children did not stay alone in a park or did not frequent certain places, but now the little ones may be being bullied from home, a phenomenon known as "grooming". How can we avoid it? To know what is grooming and how to prevent it, keep reading this article on Psychology-Online.

Index

1. What is grooming?
2. How to prevent grooming?
3. Consequences of grooming
4. Examples of grooming

There are different types of grooming. Although its most common presentation is between an adult and a minor, grooming can also occur between minors, however generally there tends to be a great age difference, the abuser being the oldest.

Grooming: meaning

Grooming, also called pedophile deception, is the cyberbullying by an adult towards a minor, with the aim of obtaining sexual purposes. For this, the adult seeks to establish a relationship and emotional control over the minor, with the aim of preparing the ground for possible sexual abuse, earning the child's trust.

Therefore, this type of cyberbullying or cyberbullying It tends to be related to pedophilia, since when the minor refuses to accept what the adult asks of him, images are used to disseminate them.

How to avoid grooming? The main tool to prevent grooming is based on the knowledge of its existence, in the same way that we alert the minor that he must be careful when crossing the street or that he should not frequent certain areas of a city, because they can rob him, is essential that the minor recognize the dangers which can lead to inappropriate use of Internet platforms and above all, social networks to avoid grooming.

The minor's ignorance of these practices will make him or her a more vulnerable victim in front of them, for For this reason, it is essential to show their parents a set of guidelines to promote the prevention of this cyber bullying. To prevent grooming it is necessary:

• Security. It is essential to learn how to use social networks in a safe way, avoiding entering personal information about why For example, the location of the minor or her habits in her daily life, such as after-school, the places that most frequents, ...
• Privacy. Make the minor understand the importance of privacy and teach him to make use of the social media tools that preserve this privacy. In addition to educating you in the ability to decide to accept your friends on social networks, avoiding accepting strangers, as well as avoiding accepting invitations to private messages or games strangers.
• Grooming cases. Show the children the different news published in reference to grooming cases, so that become aware of this situation and information and observe that these events occur on a daily basis Y they can happen to anyone.

Any information that may be presented will seem insufficient, however prevention begins with the awareness and understanding of the minor towards these events. However, even if the minor learns to make good use of social networks, the environment closest to her, the adults around her, must accompany her in their protection, always allowing the minor to feel free to discover, learn and experiment on their own, thereby avoiding the overprotection.

On the other hand, one of the most important elements is establish a bond of trust with your son or daughter, since you can try to follow all possible preventions and they will never be enough. Therefore, it is possible that your child is facing this situation and facing it, he must feel safe and comfortable to tell what is happening to him.

This act produces serious consequences, both for its victim and the aggressor. In the case of the victim, the consequences that appear can be psychological, physical and / or social, while the consequences directed at the harasser tend to be legal. The consequences of grooming for the victim and for the aggressor are the following:

Consequences of grooming for the victim

• Psychological consequences: As a result of the events, the minor may suffer childhood depression, decline in his self-esteem, feelings of mistrust, sudden and unexpected mood swings, decreased school performance, tendency to isolation, sleep and eating rhythm disturbances and in the most severe cases, may appear suicide ideas and attempts.
• Physical consequences: When the adult manages to agree on the act, the minor may suffer wounds or injuries, as well as trauma in the most serious cases, derived from sexual abuse.
• Social consequences: a decline in social relationships may appear, given the intense feelings of mistrust, difficulties in communication, appearance of blackmail to family members by the aggressor, ...

Consequences of grooming for the aggressor

The Clegal consequences for the aggressor, they will vary depending on the crime committed, since it will be different if it is a case of dissemination of pornographic images, exhibitionism, sexual abuse, psychological harm to the minor, etc,…

1. A real example that we can find of this nature, happened when two stalkers opened fictitious profiles in social networks, deceiving their victims to obtain images of sexual content, even harassing 560 people.
2. Another example would be that of a stalker who through WhatsApp offered a monetary reward of € 20 in exchange of sexual images, even giving the minor a mobile phone to guarantee to continue in contact with him less.
3. A man was sentenced 16 years in prison, with a fine of € 7,920, since he created a false profile on social networks, posing as a minor, who offered mobile recharges in exchange for sending images or videos of content sexual.
4. In another case, a man posed as a 14-year-old girl, exchanging photos with different minors, ultimately causing one of her victims to commit suicide.
5. Finally, another real case was that of a man who managed to get hold of the social media accounts of his victims and, with them, requested images of a sexual nature from his contacts.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is grooming and how to prevent it, we recommend that you enter our category of Social psychology.

• Galence, V. P. (2011). Cyber-bullying with sexual intent and child-grooming. Quadernos de criminología: journal of criminology and forensic sciences, (15), 22-33.
• Falcó García, R. (2016). Protect yourself.Grooming prevention program.
• Juan, I. M., Vayá, E. J. C., & García, M. S. (2014). Online sexual child victimization: online grooming, cyberbullying and sexual cyberbullying. Sexual crimes against minors: psychological, legal and police approach, 203-224.
• Villacampa Estiarte, C., & Gómez Adillón, M. (2016). New technologies and sexual victimization of minors by online grooming. Electronic Journal of Criminal Science and Criminology, 2016, vol. 18, no. 2 P. 1-27.