Are social networking sites a source of online harassment for teens? Evidence from survey data

Abstract

Media reports on incidences of abuse on the internet, particularly amongst teenagers, are growing at an alarming rate causing much concern among parents of teenagers and legislations aimed at regulating internet use among teenagers. Past studies have found that one in five youth were exposed to sexual solicitation, one in seventeen were harassed or threatened and only a fraction reported these cases while more than 63% reported being upset, embarrassed or stressed as a result of these unwanted contacts. Social networking sites (SNS) have been blamed to be a major source of harassment for teen users. Despite several media reports, there is a serious paucity of research in this area that explicitly identifies risk factors that make teens prone to internet abuse, and strategies for prevention and intervention. This study examines the extent to which internet use and having SNS site memberships result in incidences of stranger contact and online harassment for teens in the United States. We also determine the characteristics of teens that make them more likely to be victims of online harassment. Using parental background information, we also seek to shed light on the relationship between parental awareness and teen abuse on the internet.

Rapid skill acquisition and online sexual grooming of children

“…Certainly within the current sample all respondents had had sexual relationships with adults, although many of them described these relationships as being unsatisfactory. What was also of note was that these men described themselves often seeking young people because of certain information available in their profile, including images, similar to the findings of Sengupta and Chaudhuri (2011) and Malesky (2007). Such information was used to both fuel fantasies, facilitate contact with young people and to accrue a body of information that enabled the skilful manipulation of technological platforms in the absence of historical expertise.…”

“…Affordance in the sense used here refers to the quality of an environment (in this case that provided by both the physical and software platform) that enables, facilitates or makes possible an action (Gibson, 1979). For example, there is concern that the use of social networking sites (SNS) in particular may be associated with increasing risk of harm (Staksrud et al, 2012) and with children placing themselves at risk (Sengupta & Chaudhuri, 2011;Noll, Shenk, Barnes, & Putnam, 2009). From an offender perspective, Mitchell, Finkelhor, Jones & Wolak's (2010) survey of law enforcement indicated that SNSs were used to initiate sexual relationships, to provide a means of communication between victim and offender, to access information about the victim, to disseminate information or pictures about the victim, and to get in touch with the victim's friends; SNS's might be said to 'afford' opportunities for offending.…”

Looking for trouble: A multilevel analysis of disagreeable contacts in online social networks

“…Furthermore, increased rates of reporting have also been observed amongst adolescents and young adults (Annenberg Public Policy Centre, 2010;Sengupta & Chaudhuri, 2011). In 6 contrast, studies offering demographics of troublemakers have indicated that males are marginally more likely to cause problems online than females (Aricak et al, 2008), especially during the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Annenberg Public Policy Centre, 2010).…”

A Survey on the Social Impacts of On-line Social Networking Sites

“…Various studies yielded a number of results in this regard which can be summarized in the way that kids with online activity and specifically with social networking practice are prone to greater online risk and abuse than those who do not. The overall impression of these studies have established the social networking sites to be a definite avoidable one for the children and teens [8,15]. In social networking websites, people create and share personal information that exceeds far above the line of official resume level information.…”

“…Besides, the online safety for individuals is a major concern as people develop their on-line profile as well as their ongoing activities in the social networking sites [1,8,9,14]. As stated earlier, the social networking platforms are being used for diversified reasons.…”