Devices, DMs and D**k Pics: Youth Experiences of Cyberflashing and Missing Safety Nets

Join the Cyber Policy Center on Tuesday, November 28th from 12 Noon–1 PM Pacific, for Devices, DMs and D**k Pics: Youth Experiences of Cyberflashing and Missing Safety Nets , a conversation with Stephanie M Reich, professor at UC Irvine's School of Education. The session will be moderated by Jeff Hancock, co director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and is part of the Fall Seminar Series, a series spanning October through December, hosted at the Cyber Policy Center. Sessions are in-person and virtual, via Zoom and streamed via YouTube, with in-person attendance offered to Stanford affiliates only. Lunch is provided for in-person attendance and registration is required. This session will take place in Encina Commons, Moghadam Conference Room #119, 615 Crothers Way.

Adolescence is a period of increasing autonomy, identity exploration, and desires for physical and emotional intimacy. It is also when almost all youth have access to both a personal mobile device and social media accounts. One way such digital connectivity intersects with adolescent development is the high use of digital methods of communications, including the sending and receiving of sexual images, videos, or text, known as sexting. Extant research finds that sexting, at least for some, is part of normative sexual development (e.g., sharing with close friends or romantic partners, exploring, questioning), but it can also increase image-based sexual abuse (IBSA: e.g., cyberflashing, sextortion, cyberbullying). This study describes two exploratory studies – of adolescents’ (11-18 years) experiences of sexting and IBSA and of pediatric emergency providers’, as first responders, familiarity and comfort with identify and supporting IBSA in their practice. The talk concludes with recommendations for much-needed structures for supporting adolescents’ safety and wellbeing in a digital age.

About the Speaker:

Stephanie M. Reich earned her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Reich's research is focuses on understanding and improving the social context of children’s lives. As such, her empirical investigations center on two contributors to children’s socialization: parents and peers. The bulk of her interest examines parent and peer interactions in early childhood with additional research investigating peer interactions in adolescence. Her professional goal is to illuminate how parents and peers affect children’s socio-emotional, cognitive, and physical development with the aim of creating interventions to promote physical and mental health and academic success.

The bulk of Dr. Reich's work explores direct and indirect influences (i.e., transactions) on the child, specifically through the family, online, and school environment. Her research on the family has focused on parenting behaviors and the direct and moderational influences of maternal knowledge, efficacy, support, and home and community environment on development. Dr. Reich has also been involved in peer research where she has been examining the role of individual behaviors (e.g., aggression, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior) and peer interactions (e.g., in-person and on-line) on range of child outcomes.