Exploring patterns of online sexual experiences and associated factors in 7,901 high school students in Hong Kong: A latent class analysis

Online sexual experiences in adolescents are increasing but the patterns of use and associated factors remain unclear. This study investigated the latent heterogeneity of online sexual experiences in a large sample of 7901 adolescents (4362 males and 3539 females; mean age = 14.6 years, SD = 1.5). Participants were recruited from 25 high schools in Hong Kong via the Youth Sexuality Study in 2021. The participants completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire on online sexual experiences, family characteristics, psychological distress, and risk behaviors. Latent class analysis was conducted on 11 items of online sexual experiences in male and female adolescents separately. The latent classes were substantively checked with family, psychological, and behavioral factors via the BCH method and multinomial logistic regression. Both males and females supported three latent classes of online sexual experiences: abstinent class (male: 37.3%, female: 41.8%), normative class (male: 48.4%, female: 47.4%), and active class (male: 14.3%, female: 10.8%) with minimal, occasional, and frequent online sexual experiences, respectively. Males showed significantly higher prevalence of online sexual experiences and substance use; while females showed significantly higher levels of psychological distress and suicidal attempt. The active class was significantly associated with poorer family relationship, more digital screen time, higher psychological distress, and higher rates of sexual harassment by others, substance use, and suicide attempt than the other two classes. This study provides the first results on latent heterogeneity of online sexual experiences in Hong Kong adolescents and elucidated the associated factors across family, psychological, and behavioral domains. •We explored latent heterogeneity of online sexual experiences in 7901 adolescents via latent class analysis.•Both males and females showed a 3-class model with the abstinent, normative, and active classes.•14.3% and 10.8% of the male and female adolescents were in the active class with frequent online sexual experiences.•The active class showed worse family relationship, less family interaction, and more digital screen time than abstinent class.•The active class showed higher mental distress and elevated rates of substance use and suicide attempt than other two classes.