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Statistics

• Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later (2006)
• Teen Internet Safety Study
• Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the NetSmartz Program: A Study of Maine Public Schools
• Parents' Internet Monitoring Study
• Escaping or Connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships
• NetSmartz Evaluation Project: Internet Safety Training for Youth Ages 6 to 18

Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later (2006)

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Report Statistical Highlights¹

Produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, this second groundbreaking national survey of 1,500 youth aged 10 to 17 documented their use of the Internet and experiences while online including unwanted exposure to sexual solicitation, sexual material, and harassment. And it includes recommendations to help make the Internet safer for children. The 2006 report is referred to as YISS-2; YISS-1 refers to the original study released in 1999.

• In YISS-2, compared to YISS-1, increased proportions of youth Internet users were encountering unwanted exposures to sexual material and online harassment, but decreased proportions were receiving unwanted sexual solicitations.
• In YISS-2 more than one-third of youth Internet users (34%) saw sexual material online they did not want to see in the past year compared to one quarter (25%) in YISS-1.
• The increase in exposure to unwanted sexual material occurred despite increased use of filtering, blocking, and monitoring software in households of youth Internet users. More than half of parents and guardians with home Internet access (55%) said there was such software on the computers their children used compared to one-third (33%) in YISS-1.
• Online harassment also increased to 9% of youth Internet users in YISS-2 from 6% in YISS-1.
• A smaller proportion of youth Internet users received unwanted sexual solicitations in YISS-2 than in YISS-1. Approximately 1 in 7 (13%) was solicited in YISS-2, compared to approximately 1 in 5 (19%) in YISS-1; however, aggressive solicitations, in which solicitors made or attempted to make offline contact with youth, did not decline. Four (4) percent of youth Internet users received aggressive solicitations — a proportion similar to the 3% who received aggressive solicitations in YISS-1.
• In YISS-2 there were also declines in the proportions of youth Internet users who communicated online with people they did not know in person (34% down from 40% in YISS-1) or who formed close online relationships with people they met online (11% down from 16%).
• Four (4) percent of all youth Internet users in YISS-2 said online solicitors asked them for nude or sexually explicit photographs of themselves.
• As in YISS-1 only a minority of youth who had unwanted sexual solicitations, unwanted exposures to sexual material, or harassment said they were distressed by the incidents. The number of youth with distressing exposures to unwanted sexual material increased to 9% of all youth in YISS-2 from 6% in YISS-1.
• Acquaintances played a growing role in many of the unwanted solicitation incidents. In YISS-2, 14% of solicitations were from offline friends and acquaintances compared to only 3% in YISS-1. The same was true of harassers. Forty-four (44) percent were offline acquaintances, mostly peers, compared to 28% in YISS-1. In addition a portion of these unwanted incidents happened when youth were using the Internet in the company of peers — 41% of solicitations, 29% of exposures, and 31% of harassment.
• As in YISS-1 few overall incidents of solicitation or unwanted exposure (5% and 2% respectively in YISS-2 and 9% and 3% respectively in YISS-1) were reported to law enforcement, Internet service providers, or other authorities.

Teen Internet Safety Study

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A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC² found that

Teen Internet Usage and Attitudes about Safety Present Potential Risks but also Opportunities for Education and a Role for Watchful Parents and Guardians

Online Behavior:

• Teens have established significant presence on social networking web pages: 61% of 13- to 17-year-olds have a personal profile on a site such as MySpace, Friendster, or Xanga. Half have also posted pictures of themselves online.
  • Older teens (16-17s) and girls especially use the Internet for social interaction, meeting friends, and networking.
• However, many have also been exposed to the Internet’s accompanying potential risks.
  • 71% reported receiving messages online from someone they don’t know.
  • 45% have been asked for personal information by someone they don’t know.
  • 30% have considered meeting someone that they’ve only talked to online
  • 14% have actually met a person face-to-face they they’ve only spoken to over the Internet (9% of 13-15s; 22% of 16-17s).
• When teens receive messages online from someone they don’t know, 40% reported that they’ll usually reply and chat with that person.
  • Only 18% said they’ll tell an adult.

Perceptions of Internet Safety:

• 20% of teens report that it is safe (i.e. “somewhat” or “very safe”) to share personal information on a public blog or networking site.
• As well, 37% of 13- to 17-year-olds said they are “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned” about someone using information they’ve posted online in ways they don’t want.

Families Talking to Teens about Internet Safety Helps Reduce Some Youth Exposure to Potential Threats and Encourages Safer Online Decisions Among Teens:

• 33% of 13- to- 17-year-olds reported that their parents or guardians know “very little” or “nothing” about what they do on the Internet.
  • 48% of 16-17s said their parents or guardians know “very little” or “nothing”
• Fully 22% of those surveyed reported their parents or guardians have never discussed Internet safety with them.
• On the other hand, 36% of youth—girls and younger teens most notably—said that their parents or guardians have talked to them “a lot” about online safety, and 70% said their parents or guardians have discussed the subject with them during the past year.
• Fewer teens whose families have talked to them “a lot” about online safety have an IM name or pictures of themselves on the Internet, compared to kids whose families have not talked to them at all. More teens who’ve talked to parents or guardians also ignore messages from unfamiliar people, refuse to reply or chat, block unknown senders, and report these occurrences to trusted adults.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the NetSmartz Program: A Study of Maine Public Schools

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This report is the result of a sanctioned study conducted by the George Washington University to evaluate the effectiveness of the NetSmartz program, an Internet safety educational program from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The study was designed to determine students’ existing Internet behaviors and their conceptions of safe Internet behavior. The data obtained from surveying Maine students between the ages of 9-14 proved that involvement in the NetSmartz program resulted in more responsible online behavior by children. Prior to participation in NetSmartz:

• Fifty-four percent were unsure or believed it was safe to meet someone in person after they had been chatting with them for a long time compared to a post-test result of eighty-three percent saying it was not safe to meet someone in person;
• Twenty-five percent were unsure or believed it was safe to post their picture on the Internet compared to a post-test result of ninety-six percent saying it was not safe to post their picture on the Internet;
• Twenty percent have told people their real name on the Internet compared to a post-test result of ninety-eight percent saying it was not safe to state their real name on the Internet; and
• Twenty-five percent were unsure or believed it was safe to put their address on the Internet compared to a post-test result of eighty-eight percent saying it was not safe to put their address on the Internet.

Participation in the NetSmartz program increased the children’s awareness of Internet dangers and allowed them to be more comfortable and confident Internet users. Overall, eighty-one percent of the students surveyed reported that NetSmartz would change their Internet behaviors, and that they feel safe or very safe when using the Internet.

Parents' Internet Monitoring Study

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A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC³ found that

• Over half (51%) of parents either do not have or do not know if they have software on their computer(s) that monitors where their teenager(s) go online and with whom they interact.
• 42% of parents do not review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via Instant Messaging.
• Teenagers who Instant Message use chat lingo to communicate and parents don't know the meanings of some of the most commonly used phrases. 57% don't know LOL (Laughing Out Loud), 68% don't know BRB (Be Right Back), and 92% don't know A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location).
• 95% of parents couldn't identify common chat room lingo that teenagers use to warn people they're chatting with that their parents are watching. Those phrases are POS (Parent Over Shoulder) and P911 (Parent Alert).
• Nearly three out of 10 (28%) of parents don't know or are not sure if their teens talk to strangers online.
• 30% of parents allow their teenagers to use the computer in private areas of the house such as a bedroom or a home office. Parents say they are more vigilant about where their teen(s) go online if the computer is in a public area of the household.
• 58% of parents surveyed say they review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via Instant Messaging; 42% do not.

Escaping or Connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships

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This report used the data from the above-mentioned national sample of Internet users, ages 10 to 17, to explore the characteristics of youth who had formed close relationships with people they first met online⁴ and found that

• Fourteen percent of youth reported close online friendships and 2 percent reported online romances. Girls were slightly more likely than boys to have close online relationships with 16 and 12 percent, respectively.⁵
• Girls aged 14 to 17 were about twice as likely as girls who were 10 to 13 to form close online relationships.⁶
• The two problem characteristics associated with close online relationships were high parent-child conflict and being highly troubled. The girls with high levels of parent-child conflict reported yelling, nagging, and taking away privileges by parents at a higher level than the other girls. The highly troubled girls had levels of depression, victimization, and troubling life events at a higher level than the other girls in the sample. Girls in either of these categories were more than twice as likely as the other girls in the sample to have formed close online relationships.⁷
• Boys who had low communication with their parents, and who also reported that their parents were less likely to know where they were and who they were with than the other boys in the sample were the most strongly associated with close online relationships.⁸
• Girls and boys who reported high levels of Internet use and home Internet access were more likely to report close online relationships.⁹
• Youth with problems were more likely to have formed online romantic relationships, been asked by online friends for face-to-face meetings, and attended face-to-face meetings with people they first met online.¹⁰
• Youth who communicate well with their friends and family have people to talk with about online encounters; can get advice about behavior they find weird or unnerving; and, therefore, develop a sense of appropriate and inappropriate online behavior. Youth with problems may be less likely to get good advice and feedback.¹¹

NetSmartz Evaluation Project: Internet Safety Training for Youth Ages 6 to 18

This report outlines the results from a recent research project into youth awareness of Internet safety and online behavior. This report is based on two visits to the NetSmartz Workshop pilot sites. The first visit occurred before the implementation of the NetSmartz program, and the follow-up visit occurred after the completion of the NetSmartz program — approximately one month later.

• In all age groups, knowledge and awareness of Internet safety was disturbingly low before the program; however, youth knowledge and awareness increased significantly after participating in the NetSmartz program.¹²
• Over two-thirds of the Club members aged 12 and younger felt that the NetSmartz program would change their behavior on the Internet.¹³
• Eighty-six percent of the teens felt that the I-360 program changed the way they think about the Internet and 83 percent said it has changed their behavior online and that they would now be "more careful" when using the Internet and sharing information.¹⁴
• Youth also reported positively about the design of the program, in that it spoke to them not down to them and "made it real."¹⁵
• Teens felt the I-360 program sent a strong message of "it could happen to you" that challenged their belief that Internet anonymity was their safeguard. Of particular importance to this age group was that the software used youth their own age to teach the safety concepts that reinforced the message.¹⁶
• Adults, and especially parents and Club staff, are ideally placed to provide training and guidance on safer Internet use.¹⁷
• Internet safety is an ongoing concern that should continue to be addressed and reinforced on a regular basis and not implemented as a one-time event.¹⁸
• Prior to NetSmartz, 1 in 4 youth had never received information about Internet safety issues.¹⁹
• While youth might be aware of some of the elements of Internet safety, their behavior online might still be a cause for concern, even after training.²⁰
• Youth, especially older youth, were confident in their ability to avoid rules and guidelines given by their parents in order to access potentially unsafe or inappropriate material or sites.²¹
• Younger youth were found to have a lower level of Internet safety knowledge, even after training, which highlights the need for continued training as these youth develop and are exposed to more on the world wide web.²²

¹David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Janis Wolak. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, Virginia: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2006.
²Teenage Research Unlimited. Teen Internet Safety Survey. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications, 2006.
³Ketchum Global Research Network. Parents' Internet Monitoring Study. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications, 2005.
⁴David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Janis Wolak. "Escaping or connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships." Journal of Adolescence 26 (2003), page 105.
⁵Ibid., page 110.
⁶Ibid.
⁷Ibid., page 110-11.
⁸Ibid., page 115.
⁹Ibid.
¹⁰Ibid.
¹¹Ibid., page 116.
¹²Branch Associates. NetSmartz Evaluation Project: Internet Safety Training for Children and Youth Ages 6 to 18. Atlanta, GA: Boys & Girls Clubs of America and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2002.
¹³Ibid., page 14.
¹⁴Ibid., page 20.
¹⁵Ibid.
¹⁶Ibid.
¹⁷Ibid., page 18.
¹⁸Ibid.
¹⁹Ibid., page 23.
²⁰Ibid.
²¹Ibid.
²²Ibid.