BACKGROUND: There were a few interesting statistics which started this article. The authors stated that 9% of youth are estimated to be targets of harassment, and 13% are targets of unwanted sexual solicitation. Being a victim can lead to psychological problems, such as depression, distress, and victimization offline. Pediatricians are usually asked to consult on children's online safety.
The article focuses on 5 online behavior for this survey. Disclosure of personal information, aggressive behavior, talking with unknown people, sexual behavior, and downloading images using file-sharing programs. The research questions were: what are the prevalence rates of risky behaviors, Are behaviors which are targeted in safety prevention messages associated with online victimization, do psychology and behavioral problems account for these associations, and does the total number of online behaviors engaged in affect the association between specific behaviors and victimization.
METHODS: The sample was taken from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS-2). The survey was conducted on the phone, over a 3 month period. 1500 youth were interviewed for this sample. They had to be English speaking and used the Internet for the past 6 months, at least once a month. The ages ranged between 10-17, with the mean being 14.2.
MEASURES:
Online behaviors- this section of the questions asked if the children posted personal information, such as name, phone number, school name, age or year born, and/or pictures. Aggressive online behaviors were asked if the children ever made rude or nasty comments to someone online, or harassed or embarrassed someone that they were mad at. They were also asked if they met people online that they did not know in person.
Online interpersonal victimization- this section included unwanted sexual solicitation or harassment online.
Psychological and behavioral problems- this section asked if they had been sexually or physically abused on and offline. The abused could include being attached, hit, jumped, hit by peers, picked on by peers. They were also asked how frequently a caregiver nagged, yelled, or took away their privileges.
Internet use and demographics- this section asked how often the child was online (days/week and hours/day). They were also asked how often they blogged, used instant messaging and chat rooms.
Questions were asked in either a yes/no format or on a 4-point likert scale.
RESULTS: one in five (20%) of the children had unwanted interpersonal victimization in the past year. 75% of the respondents had engaged in at least one of the behaviors being assessed. Nearly 30% engaged in 4 or more types of online behaviors in the past year. The most common online behavior was disclosure of personal information: posting personal information, which was done by 55% of the sample. The next common behavior was meeting someone online, which was done by 43% of the sample. The least common behavior was talking about sex with someone known only online. In regards to sending personal information, the most common posting was disclosure of age/year born.
The article concludes by providing advice. The best statement, in my opinion, of the article, was: "many types of online behaviors considered risky are becoming normative." Over half of the sample has given some sort of personal information, which validates the prior statement. The authors also provide, what they believe, to be an effect approach to discussing online dangers with youth..."I know many young people your age are meeting people online. You probably know how easy it is to hide your identity. be careful and know that you can discontinue a relationship any time by changing your login name or blocking someone...Acknowledge too, that some online relationship can be positive and a source of social support; nevertheless, wariness is warranted. We need to acknowledge the online world youth are living in and arm them with the tools to reduce the risk that some of their behaviors may entail."
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My thoughts on this article: I really enjoyed this article. I think it provided good tips and insights into how children are behaving online. As the article states, risky behaviors are now becoming normal to youth. It is not a good message to say...don't talk to strangers online, because that is unrealistic, but it is best to tell children facts about online crimes and how to be safe and avoid becoming a victim. The only thing I didn't like about the article, was the talk about pediatricians talking to children about online crimes. I think if that is the only one available, then that is fine, however, I believe that law enforcement officers or other advocates should be delivering the message. A lot more research needs to be done in this area. There is very limited research available currently. More needs to be done to understand online crimes, psychological aspects, and victimization. It would be interesting to see this article replicated and see how the statistics ended. I personally feel that the results may not be 100% accurate, for a few reasons. If someone is asking you a question that you are embarrassed about or didn't want to own up to, chances are you won't be truthful. There wasn't a way to measure lying in this study. For instance, if a child had been a bully, but their parent was standing near the phone and could hear the responses, the child may not say that they have bullied someone before, in fear that they would be in trouble. Perhaps, if the study was done again, using the Internet to assess children, the results may be different. It would be VERY interesting to see the results. All in all, I really enjoyed this article.
Very interesting. I was also surprised to see that pediatricians are in a position to consult about online behaviors... But it's important information, if you are to create a coalition and address the issue from several angles.
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