Behind the Screen: Exploring Cybersex Addiction as the Mediator of Factors Influencing and Causing Psychological and Physical Damage Among Children in Peninsular Malaysia

• Published in: Contributions to Finance and Accounting
• Main Author: Wan Maizon W.S.N.; Abd Hamid S.N.F.
• Format: Book chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85212473907&doi=10.1007%2f978-3-031-67547-8_4&partnerID=40&md5=0c51de2d7a3d5db36541fc7a6baaec63

The era of globalisation and modernisation has grown rapidly, thus leading to the widespread use of technological devices by every generation, including children. It is undeniable that this era provides numerous benefits such as having information at our fingertips, being able to access information from any location by using the Internet, and many others. However, if children excessively use the Internet, especially when surfing indecent materials, it can cause them to become addicted to cybersex. Due to this situation, this research paper aims to explore on cybersex addiction as the mediator of factors influencing and causing psychological and physical damage among children in Peninsular Malaysia. The data were collected from 750 respondents aged 13–17 years, equally distributed across Malay, Chinese, and Indian ethnicities. The quantitative findings of this study revealed that cybersex addiction has a mediation effect between individual factor, parental neglect, and peer influence, with psychological and physical damage. This study underscores the urgent need for comprehensive interventions at all levels of society, including children and parents, in order to address cybersex addiction among children, such as increased awareness of Malaysians, developing sexual reproductive health education programmes, and others, since this initiative would help to empower children to make good decisions about their bodies, relationships, and sexual health, which indirectly can contribute to overall proficient well-being. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.