Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet

Research and Policy Challenges in Comparative Perspective

Livingstone, Sonia, Haddon, Leslie

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781447308614
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Children's Studies in Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

As internet use is extending to younger children, there is an increasing need for research focus on the risks young users are experiencing, as well as the opportunities, and how they should cope. With expert contributions from diverse disciplines and a uniquely cross-national breadth, this timely book examines the prospect of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy by both strangers and peers. Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25, 000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, it offers wholly newfindings that extend previous research and counter both the optimistic and the pessimistic hype.It argues that, in the main, children are gaining the digital skills, coping strategies and social support they need to navigate this fast-changing terrain. But it also identifies the struggles they encounter, pinpointing those for whom harm can follow from risky online encounters.Each chapter presents new findings and analyses to inform both researchers and students in the social sciences and policy makers in government, industry or child welfare who are working to enhance children's digital experiences.

Appendix: Key variables used in EU Kids Online analyses

Use and activities

Concept	Questions/response options	Summaries/variable names
Number of places where the internet is used	At school or college Living room (or other public room) at home At a friend’s home Own bedroom (or other private room) at home At a relative’s home In an internet café In a public library or other public place When ‘out and about’	The number out of eight response options/DC301NM
Number of devices used to access the internet	Shared PC Own PC Television set Mobile phone Games console Own laptop Shared laptop Other handheld or portable device (eg iPod Touch, iPhone or Blackberry)	The number out of eight response options/DCdeviceNM
Estimated minutes online each day	About how long do you spend using the internet on a normal school day/normal non-school day?	DCtimeuse

Digital literacy

Concept	Questions/response options	Summaries/variable names
Digital skills	Bookmark a website Block messages from someone you don’t want to hear from Find information on how to use the internet safely Change privacy settings on a social networking profile Compare different websites to decide if information is true Delete the record of which sites you have visited Block unwanted adverts or junk mail/spam Change filter preferences	The number out of eight response options/ DCskillsNM
Range of online activities	Used the internet for schoolwork Played internet games on your own or against the computer Watched video clips Visited a social networking profile Used instant messaging Sent/received email Read/watched the news on the internet Played games with other people on the internet Downloaded music or films Put (or posted) photos, videos or music to share with others Used a webcam Put (or posted) a message on a website Visited a chatroom Used file-sharing sites Created a character, pet or avatar Spent time in a virtual world Written a blog or online diary	The number out of 17 response options/ DCactNM
Belief about internet abilities	I know lots of things about using the internet. 1 (not true) to 3 (very true)	DCwebableB

Risky activities

Concept	Questions/response options	Summaries/variable names
Risky offline activities (adapted from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey; Currie et al, 2008)	Missed school lessons without my parents knowing Been in trouble with my teachers for bad behaviour Been in trouble with the police Had so much alcohol that I got really drunk (only asked of children aged 11+) Had sexual intercourse (only asked of children aged II+)	The number out of three response options for 9-to 10-year-olds and out of five response options for children aged II+/DCROBINM DCROB2NM
Risky online activities (adapted from the UK Children Go Online survey; Livingstone and Helsper, 2007, 2010)	Looked for new friends on the internet Added people to my friends list or address book that I have never met face to face Pretended to be a different kind of person on the internet from who I really am Sent personal information to someone that I have never met face to face Sent a photo or video of myself to someone that I have never met face to face	The number out of five response options/ DCriskactNM

Online risks

...

Concept	Questions/response options	Summaries/variable names
Online contacts
Online contacts	Can I just check, have you ever had contact on the internet with someone you have not met face to face before? yes/no	QC147
Meeting online contacts offline	And have you ever gone on to meet anyone face to face that you first met on the internet in this way? yes/no	QC148
Number of online contacts met offline	And how many new people have you met in this way in the last 12 months, if any? 1 to 2, 3 to 4, More than 10	QC149
Seeing and receiving sexual messages
Receiving sexual messages	In the past 12 months, have you seen or received sexual messages of any kind on the internet? yes/no	QC167
Frequency of receiving sexual messages	How often have you seen or received sexual messages of any kind on the internet in the past 12 months? Every day or almost every day Once or twice a week Once or twice a month Less often	QC168
Types of sexual messages received	I have been sent a sexual message on the internet I have seen a sexual message posted where other people could see it on the internet I have seen other people perform sexual acts I have been asked to talk about sexual acts with someone on the internet I have been asked on the internet for a photo or video showing my private parts	The number out of five response options/QC169A-E
Sexual images
Seeing sexual images	Have you seen these kinds of things [images that are obviously sexual] on any websites in the past 12 months? yes/no	QC131
Types of sexual images	Which types of website have you seen things like this [any kind of sexual images] on in the last 12 months? Images or video of someone naked Images or video of someone’s ‘private parts’ Images or video of someone having sex Images or video of movies that show sex in a violent way Something else	The number out of five response options/QC133A-E
Bullying

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Notes on contributors
• one: Theoretical framework for children’s internet use
• two: Methodological framework: the EU Kids Online project
• three: Cognitive interviewing and responses to EU Kids Online survey questions
• four: Which children are fully online?
• five: Varieties of access and use
• six: Online opportunities
• seven: Digital skills in the context of media literacy
• eight: Between public and private: privacy in social networking sites
• nine: Experimenting with the self online: a risky opportunity
• ten: Young Europeans’ online environments: a typology of user practices
• eleven: Bullying
• twelve: ‘Sexting’: the exchange of sexual messages online among European youth
• thirteen: Pornography
• fourteen: Meeting new contacts online
• fifteen: Excessive internet use among European children
• sixteen: Coping and resilience: children’s responses to online risks
• seventeen: Agents of mediation and sources of safety awareness: a comparative overview
• eighteen: The effectiveness of parental mediation
• nineteen: Effectiveness of teachers’ and peers’ mediation in supporting opportunities and reducing risks online
• twenty: Understanding digital inequality: the interplay between parental socialisation and children’s development
• twenty-one: Similarities and differences across Europe
• twenty-two: Mobile access: different users, different risks, different consequences?
• twenty-three: Explaining vulnerability to risk and harm
• twenty-four: Relating online practices, negative experiences and coping strategies
• twenty-five: Towards a general model of determinants of risk and safety
• twenty-six: Policy implications and recommendations: now what?
• Appendix: Key variables used in EU Kids Online analyses