Research

Research Spotlight

ADHD, ASD and Online Harm

What We Looked At

This literature review examines how ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) shape young people’s experiences of harmful online content and how socioeconomic background may make things harder still.

We define harmful online content as sexual, violent, or otherwise extreme material that poses real risk to children’s mental wellbeing, sexual development, and their attitudes towards relationships. Online environments are actively shaped by algorithmic systems that can increase exposure to harmful material by promoting emotionally engaging and repetitive content (Livingstone et al., 2025; Hilbert et al., 2025), and children with disabilities – including neurodivergent young people – may face additional barriers that increase their vulnerability (Chadwick et al., 2019).

What the Research Found

Young people with ADHD face specific, conditional risks online. The evidence suggests they are not uniformly more at risk across every type of online harm, but they do appear more vulnerable in particular areas. One study found that adolescents with ADHD had a significantly higher prevalence of online sexual abuse than neurotypical peers (50% vs. 30%), with untreated ADHD associated with greater risk and medication appearing protective (Özdağ et al., 2025). A large longitudinal cohort study found that a childhood ADHD diagnosis was associated with significantly higher risk of cyberbullying victimisation in adolescence (Lin et al., 2024). Adolescents with ADHD have also been found to sext more than neurotypical peers and to report greater pressure or coercion as a motivation for doing so (Lunde et al., 2023).

The underlying factors most consistently identified in the research are impulsivity, difficulties regulating emotions, boredom proneness, family stress and untreated symptoms (Chou et al., 2018; Chou et al., 2024; Dawson et al., 2022; Özdağ et al., 2025). Importantly, where young people with ADHD were receiving medication or therapeutic support, differences in risk compared to neurotypical peers were often reduced (Chou et al., 2024; Hsu et al., 2025). There is also evidence that heavy online social activity may worsen attentional and behavioural difficulties over time, particularly so in girls and during early adolescence, suggesting the relationship between ADHD and online environments may run in both directions (Deng et al., 2025).

There is also emerging evidence linking ADHD to problematic engagement with pornography and sexualised content online. One study found that individuals with ADHD reported significantly higher levels of problematic pornography use, with ADHD, male gender and anxious attachment identified as significant predictors (Niazof et al., 2019). A narrative review links ADHD-related reward system dysregulation and impulsivity to seeking highly stimulating content and using pornography as a form of emotional self-regulation (Privara and Bob, 2023). However, most of this research currently involves adult samples rather than adolescents specifically.

Young people with ASD face a different kind of vulnerability. It’s less about how much time they spend online and more about how they interpret and manage online interactions. One study found that children and young people with ASD were 7.5 times less likely to employ protective strategies online than neurotypical peers, and experienced poorer wellbeing following harmful experiences (Macmillan et al., 2020). A comparative study found that despite lower social media use, cybervictimisation rates did not significantly differ from neurotypical peers, suggesting reduced participation does not reliably protect against harm (Begara Iglesias et al., 2019).

Qualitative research with autistic young people highlights how difficulties in interpreting social intent, recognising manipulation and disengaging from risky exchanges contribute to vulnerability, even when online communication feels easier and more accessible than offline interaction (Leung et al., 2023). Girls with ASD appear particularly vulnerable to online sexual harassment, while boys more commonly report risks such as phishing and scams (Macmillan et al., 2022). A prospective twin study found that females with ASD had approximately three times the risk of coercive sexual victimisation compared to neurotypical females, although this association was largely explained by shared underlying vulnerabilities rather than ASD diagnosis alone (Ohlsson Gotby et al., 2018).

Regarding sexualised content, developmental and theoretical literature suggests that adolescents with ASD may engage with pornography or sexualised material as a coping strategy or substitute for offline social difficulties, with comorbid ADHD potentially amplifying these patterns (Fraumeni-McBride, 2024; Muris et al., 2025). However, direct adolescent-specific empirical evidence in this area remains limited.

Socioeconomic disadvantage adds another layer of risk. Research consistently shows that young people from lower-income backgrounds are more likely to experience cyberbullying, exposure to sexualised content and coercive interactions online (Skogen et al., 2022; Chen and Jiang, 2025; Purdy et al., 2024). One study found that lower subjective socioeconomic status was associated with significantly more negative social media experiences, including unwanted sexualised content and requests for sexual images, even after controlling for time spent online (Skogen et al., 2022). Another found that family economic hardship was linked to both cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration, partially through relative deprivation and poorer family emotional functioning (Chen and Jiang, 2025). Lower family cohesion and communication have also been associated with higher pornography use among adolescents (Villena Moya et al., 2025).

One of the few studies to examine SES alongside ADHD specifically found that socioeconomic disadvantage moderated the relationship between boredom proneness and internet addiction, with boredom predicting addiction only among adolescents from lower SES backgrounds (Chou et al., 2018). Critically, there is very little research that examines how socioeconomic disadvantage and neurodevelopmental conditions interact more broadly, which is an important gap (Cimino, 2025).

What This Means in Practice

The review identifies several practical implications:

• Relationship-based support works. Parental awareness and open family communication appear more protective than device surveillance or screen restrictions, particularly for young people with ADHD (Dawson et al., 2022; Chou et al., 2024).
• Online safety education needs to be genuinely inclusive. Neurodivergent young people benefit from clear, structured and repeated teaching, but this doesn’t mean separate provision. Applying Universal Design for Learning principles means well-designed, flexible education can work for a range of learners and benefit everyone (CAST, 2024; Almeqdad et al., 2023). Early-stage research also suggests AI-supported tools may help neurodivergent young people recognise risky situations, though this evidence requires careful attention to ethics and safeguarding (Ferrer et al., 2024; Zitouni et al., 2026).
• Sexual and relationship education matters. Understanding consent, power and healthy relationships is central to preventing online harm, not just digital safety skills in isolation (Lloyd, 2020; Beddows and Brooks, 2016).
• Platform design and structural factors cannot be ignored. Algorithmic amplification of harmful content, poor reporting tools and digital inequality all increase risk (Livingstone et al., 2025; Hilbert et al., 2025). Interventions should be low-cost and delivered through schools and community settings, not just family-led (Skogen et al., 2022; Purdy et al., 2024).

Where the Research Needs to Go Next

There is a significant need for more adolescent-specific research, particularly on how neurodivergent young people engage with sexualised and pornographic content online. Future studies should use longitudinal designs, examine gender and developmental stage more carefully, and explicitly explore how socioeconomic context interacts with neurodevelopmental vulnerability. The current evidence base is limited by a heavy reliance on cross-sectional designs, self-report data and small neurodivergent subgroups (Cimino, 2025).

References