Child Fund Japan (Suginami-ku, Tokyo; Executive Director: Katsuhiko Takeda), a non-profit organization, conducted a survey on grooming among young people. The results of the survey revealed that approximately 1 in 8 (12.4%) had experienced online requests for sexual images, meetings, etc., and that only 4.7% of them had consulted with someone about it.

■ Survey Summary ■

Period : December 22, 2023 – January 5, 2024
Subjects : Individuals of both sexes aged 15-24 nationwide
Responses : 1,735s
Method : Online survey
Project Members : Joint research with Otemon Gakuin University

Approximately 70% of young adults are unaware of grooming. Contact through online games, which is more common among males.

Here are some highlights from the survey.

• Women are more likely to have experienced receiving chats from strangers, while a higher percentage of men have received chats from strangers through online games.
• About 1 in 8 (12.4%) have experienced requests for sexual selfies or meetings, of which only 4.7% consulted with them.
• About 70% of young people “don’t know” about grooming, with a particularly strong tendency among those aged 15-17.
• Regarding countermeasures against grooming, the most common response was “increase the number of places to consult” and the next was “spread knowledge about grooming and make it easier for victims to be aware of the problem “.

Based on these results, the research team made the following recommendations: “it is necessary to spread knowledge about grooming among young people, such as through awareness campaigns on social media platforms,” “the need to raise awareness, especially among men, about grooming in online games and to use characters to raise awareness,” and “the need to publicize the existence of counseling centers.”

The results of each question, analysis, recommendations, and the survey form are available here.