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Research into online child sexual grooming (OCSG) discourse has focused on offenders (see e.g., Chiang & Grant, 2017; Lorenzo-Dus, 2023; Lorenzo-Dus et al., 2016, 2020, forthcoming). What is lacking is an understanding of how child victims of OCSG interpret offenders’ discourse and its impacts. This study addresses this gap in knowledge through an analysis of children’s emotions in a counselling context via a UK national helpline (counselling chats = 30; number of words ~ 35,000). The analysis adapts established Appraisal Theory frameworks (Bednarek, 2008; Martin & White, 2005), focusing on the Affect dimension (Benitez-Castro & Hidalgo-Tenorio, 2019). Results reveal that children’s discourse of emotions (Affect) is directed towards one of three main ‘entities’: groomer; sources of support and themselves. Across all three entities, emotions that impact on the pursuit of personal, goals, needs and values (i.e., goal achievement emotions) are most frequently referenced and, within these, negative emotions linked to the Affect categories ‘disquiet’ and within that the sub-emotion ‘insecurity’ are the most frequent. When directed towards groomer and sources of support, insecurity revolves around the emotions of fear, anxiety and confusion; when self-directed, emotions of shame, self-blame, unhappiness and misery are most prominent.
The predominance of disquiet_insecurity emotions in children’s discourse suggests the devastating impact OCSG has on their self-constructions at a fundamental stage in their development. The transition to adolescence sees fundamental neurophysiological shifts regulating affect, self-identity and governing the evolution of self (Gilbert & Irons, 2009; Shore, 1994). Moreover, sexual abuse and can result in a shame-self fusion (see MacGinley et al., 2019). This creates fertile ground for face fragility which shapes children’s responses to OCSG. Our findings have implications for the development of child sexual abuse preventative and recovery approaches that recognise and repair children’s face fragility through agency amplification and de-shaming discourses.
‘it’s made me feel sad and confused. im scared to go to school and i feel humiliated and ashamed’: Children’s Emotion Discourse Triggered by Online Sexual Grooming.
Research into online child sexual grooming (OCSG) discourse has focused on offenders (see e.g., Chiang & Grant, 2017; Lorenzo-Dus, 2023; Lorenzo-Dus et al., 2016, 2020, forthcoming). What is lacking is an understanding of how child victims of OCSG interpret offenders’ discourse and its impacts. This study addresses this gap in knowledge through an analysis of children’s emotions in a counselling context via a UK national helpline (counselling chats = 30; number of words ~ 35,000). The analysis adapts established Appraisal Theory frameworks (Bednarek, 2008; Martin & White, 2005), focusing on the Affect dimension (Benitez-Castro & Hidalgo-Tenorio, 2019). Results reveal that children’s discourse of emotions (Affect) is directed towards one of three main ‘entities’: groomer; sources of support and themselves. Across all three entities, emotions that impact on the pursuit of personal, goals, needs and values (i.e., goal achievement emotions) are most frequently referenced and, within these, negative emotions linked to the Affect categories ‘disquiet’ and within that the sub-emotion ‘insecurity’ are the most frequent. When directed towards groomer and sources of support, insecurity revolves around the emotions of fear, anxiety and confusion; when self-directed, emotions of shame, self-blame, unhappiness and misery are most prominent.
The predominance of disquiet_insecurity emotions in children’s discourse suggests the devastating impact OCSG has on their self-constructions at a fundamental stage in their development. The transition to adolescence sees fundamental neurophysiological shifts regulating affect, self-identity and governing the evolution of self (Gilbert & Irons, 2009; Shore, 1994). Moreover, sexual abuse and can result in a shame-self fusion (see MacGinley et al., 2019). This creates fertile ground for face fragility which shapes children’s responses to OCSG. Our findings have implications for the development of child sexual abuse preventative and recovery approaches that recognise and repair children’s face fragility through agency amplification and de-shaming discourses.
Bednarek, M. (2008). Emotion Talk Across Corpora. Springer.
Benitez-Castro, M.-A., & Hidalgo-Tenorio, E. (2019). Rethinking Martin & White’s AFFECT taxonomy: A psychologically-inspired approach to the linguistic expression of emotion. In J. Mackenzie & L. Alba-Juez (Eds.), Emotion in Discourse (pp. 301–327). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Chiang, E., & Grant, T. (2017). Online grooming: moves and strategies. Language and Law=Linguagem e Direito, 4(1), 103–141. http://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/LLLD/article/view/2411
Gilbert, P., & Irons, C. (2009). Shame, self-criticism, and self-compassion in adolescence.
Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2023). Digital Sexual Grooming. In Digital Grooming (pp. 58-C3.N9). Oxford University PressNew York. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190845193.003.0003
Lorenzo-Dus, N., Evans, C., & Mullineux-Morgan, R. (2023). When Chat Entraps: Online Grooming Discourse (Cambridge). Cambridge University Press.
Lorenzo-Dus, N., Izura, C., & Pérez-Tattam, R. R. (2016). Understanding grooming discourse in computer-mediated environments. Discourse, Context and Media, 12, 40–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2016.02.004
Lorenzo-Dus, N., Kinzel, A., & Di Cristofaro, M. (2020). The communicative modus operandi of online child sexual groomers: Recurring patterns in their language use. J. Pragmat., 155, 15–27.
MacGinley, M., Breckenridge, J., & Mowll, J. (2019). A scoping review of adult survivors’ experiences of shame following sexual abuse in childhood. In Health and Social Care in the Community (Vol. 27, Issue 5, pp. 1135–1146). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12771
Martin, J., & White, P. (2005). The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=%5C_ap8QgAACAAJ
Shore, A. N. (1994). Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development. Laurence Erlbaum.
