Summary

Our project addresses the challenge of recognising and responding to harmful online behaviours affecting teenage girls before they escalate into more serious abuse. While issues such as image-based abuse, online harassment, and digital coercive control are increasingly common, responses often focus on incidents once significant harm has already occurred.

One of the key challenges is that early-stage behaviours, e.g., persistent unwanted messaging, pressure to share images, or online monitoring, can be normalised or dismissed as typical adolescent behaviour. This creates a gap in which harmful patterns go undetected early and opportunities for prevention are missed.

There is also a gap between research and practice. While academic studies provide valuable insights, these are not always translated into tools that, for example, policing and safeguarding professionals can easily use. Our project aims to address this by combining existing research with practitioner insight to develop a practical framework that supports earlier identification and response.