Are youth doing risky things online?

Ybarra, Michele. (2006, January). Are youth doing risky things online? Presented at the San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, San Diego, CA.

Summary:

This presentation uses data from the Youth Internet Safety Surveys (YISS and YISS-2) to discuss characteristics of youth online risky behavior, including giving out personal information or pictures online, engaging in sexual behaviors online, and being rude or using the Internet to harass or embarrass.

Also discussed are youth prevention information and rates of youth disclosure of Internet-related harassment. Furthermore, for youth that disclose they are being harassed or bullied online suggestions of what questions parents and other authority figures should ask about the specific type of Internet victimization are provided.

Findings include:

- Still relatively low levels of risky sexual behavior.

- Particularly large increases in youth being rude, nasty, and harassing others online.

- Youth remain reluctant to reveal unwanted solicitations, exposures and harassment.

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