This book examines the modern pandemic of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE). It explores the prevalence, perpetration, impact, and victimization of as well as therapy for child sexual exploitation and its interaction with child sexual abuse. Chapters discuss OCSE from neuropsychological, epidemiological, neurological, behavioral, psychological, clinical, neurobiological and epigenetic perspectives. The volume also addresses the physical and mental impact of early exposure to pornography. The book serves as a resource on an issue that is proving exponentially complex as technology ceaselessly evolves at a faster rate than its consequences can be understood and addressed.
Key areas of coverage include:
- Neuropsychological changes and dysfunctional coping mechanisms resulting from both online and offline child sexual abuse.
- The psychological, emotional, and physical impacts (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD, and self-harm) of child sexual abuse.
- Prevention and early intervention strategies, including scalable technological responses.
- Developing a public health approach to preventing and addressing online child abuse and exploitation.
- Porn culture and its impact on children, adolescents, and emerging adults.
- The neurobiology and epigenetic impact of trauma.
This book is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in child and school psychology, public health, social work as well as interrelated disciplines, including neuropsychology, neurobiology, sociology, anthropology, and educational policy and politics.
Ernesto Caffo, M.D., is a full Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Professor Caffo is also President of the Scientific Board of the Post Graduate School in Child Neuropsychiatry and has been Director of the masters’ research programs on Evaluation and Intervention in Situations of Child Abuse and Pedophilia. Professor Caffo founded and isis founder and President of the S.O.S Il Telefono Azzurro Onlus, a nonprofit Italian organization that promotes children’s rights and fights any kind of abuse and violence against children and adolescents. He is also President of the Foundation Child for Study and Research into Childhood and Adolescence, and he is Director of Iinternational tTraining Rresearch Sseminars in the field of children’s and adolescents’ mental health.child and adolescent psychiatry. Professor Caffo is past president of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) and has beenis a member of the board of directors of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) since 2008. In 2018, he became a steering committee member of child protection association the Child Dignity Alliance and was appointed by Pope Francis appointed as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
