The victimisation of adolescents in digital contexts represents an increasing social and scientific concern. Among the most severe risks is online grooming is a manipulative process through which adults establish deceptive emotional connections with minors to facilitate sexual exploitation (Craven et al., 2006; De Santisteban et al., 2017). Adolescence is a critical period for understanding this phenomenon, as it encompasses psychosocial characteristics such as heightened emotionality, impulsivity, and identity exploration (Salmela-Aro, 2011; Baumgartner et al., 2010), which may amplify exposure to online risks.

Adopting a developmental victimology perspective (Finkelhor, 1995; Piquero, 2015), this study examined how risk factors for online grooming vary across adolescence. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design, data were collected from 240 adolescents aged 12–19, divided into early-to-mid (12–15) and mid-to-late (16–19) adolescence. Individual (self-esteem, impulsivity, negative emotionality), relational (parental supervision, family relationships), behavioural (risky online behaviours), and prior victimisation factors (cyberbullying) were analysed.

The results identified three main predictors of online grooming victimisation: engagement in risky online behaviours (OR=1.21; SE=0.05; p=<.001), gender (OR=2.49; SE=0.36; p=.012), and previous (cyber)bullying victimisation (OR=2.21; SE=0.32; p=.012). Developmental comparisons revealed that while these predictors were still significant among younger adolescents, only risky behaviours retained predictive power among older participants.

The findings highlight that vulnerability to grooming is developmentally dynamic, shaped by both psychosocial maturation and contextual autonomy. These results underscore the importance of age-specific prevention strategies that promote emotional regulation, digital literacy, and parental mediation to mitigate adolescents’ susceptibility to online grooming.