| Summary: | This study was conducted to examine the vulnerability of Malaysian children towards online
sexual grooming by ascertaining the level of vulnerability and the relationships with social media
profiles and demographical factors. To achieve the objectives of this study, a quantitative method
using a cross-sectional research design with the aid of electronic questionnaire via Google Form
was used to gather the data. A total of 205 Malaysian children from the age of 10 to 17 years old
participated in this study with their parents’ consent. Based on the analyses of the items, it was
found that each child was vulnerable towards sexual grooming at different levels. This study also
found that the frequency of social media usage was directly correlated with online sexual
grooming vulnerability (r = 0.14, p = 0.05) and age of the respondents (r = 0.20, p = 0.006).
Children with more social media accounts were also found to be more vulnerable towards online
sexual grooming compared to those with lower number of social media accounts (F (2, 191) =
7.30, p = 0.001). Findings also revealed that there was no significant difference on online sexual
grooming vulnerability in terms of gender (t (191) = -0.39, p = 0.149). As a conclusion, this
study provide in-depth exposure related to online sexual grooming vulnerability to public as well
as the urgent need for proactive prevention efforts to curb child sexual related offenses.
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