Consequences of cyber dating abuse on adolescent victims: Systematic review

Abstract

Social media and messaging platforms promoted the possibility of people to communicate in distance, however, even though it had a lot of advantages, it also developed the start of cyber dating abuse. The consequences that emerge from cyber dating abuse on its victims started to be investigated about 10 years ago from now, and since then there has been an increase of interest around the subject. The present systematic review aimed to synthesize studies examining the consequences/impacts of cyber dating abuse on victims. The search resulted in 37 articles, out of which 9 were considered eligible for inclusion. In general, the association between cyber dating abuse and risk factors such as substance use, and risky sexual behaviours were corroborated by the studies included in this systematic review. Some socioemotional consequences such as stress, fear, anxiety, and depression, didn’t emerge as a significant predictor of cyber dating abuse which was not anticipated.