The Mental Health and Social Implications of Nonconsensual Sharing of Intimate Images on Youth: A Systematic Review

Abstract

In the past decade, the sending and sharing of sexual images among youth has become normalized. An associated risk of sharing sexual images is the images being nonconsensually shared among peers or uploaded online. This is the first review to systematically identify, summarize, and critically evaluate existing research on the mental health and social impact of nonconsensual sharing of sexual images (NCSSI) on youth. Database (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus) and manual searches were conducted to identify eligible studies. A narrative synthesis and a Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool were used for quality analysis. Of 4,013 articles retrieved, 13 met the eligibility criteria. The findings suggest that NCSSI is associated with negative mental health and social repercussions. Five quantitative studies found evidence suggestive of increased depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in young people following NCSSI. The identified qualitative evidence highlighted a range of adverse impacts in the social lives of those affected, including associated bullying, harassment, and victim-blaming attitudes that many individuals face following an experience of NCSSI, which may contribute to a negative sense of self and exacerbate distress. Some of the identified studies used unvalidated tools to assess mental health outcomes, and mainly measured depression and anxiety. Most studies more broadly discussed the sharing of sexual images rather than NCSSI specifically. Future research should adopt a narrow focus on the impact of NCSSI and use validated tools to measure various mental health outcomes.