Image-Based Sexual Abuse: A Snapshot of New Zealand Adults’ Experiences

Abstract

This report presents findings from a larger quantitative study about New Zealand adults’ experiences of harmful digital communications. The report focuses on the prevalence of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), and people’s attitudes regarding different aspects of it. The findings described in this report are based on data collected from a nationally representative sample. We conducted a survey-based study with 1,001 adult New Zealanders. Fieldwork took place between 30 May and 1 July 2018. The objectives of the IBSA questionnaire were to gauge prevalence among adult New Zealanders: both self-reported personal experiences and involvement with this behaviour. It also sought to explore participants’ level of agreement with IBSA related issues. The margin of error for this study was +/- 3.1% at a 95% confidence level on total results. This study is the first of its kind conducted in New Zealand.

Keywords: image-based abuse, revenge porn, online harassment, revenge pornography, adults, New Zealand, quantitative research, survey, digital communications