Task Force Recommendations
for best practices for child online safety.
Appendix B - Research Review
Research Topics:
- The primary research topics emphasize how children use technology and the Internet, and what dangers they encounter;
- Most research is focused on negative issues such child safety and health risks; few studies examine positive resources and outcomes;
- Research on children ages 8-10 centers on bullying, whereas that on ages 10 and older focuses on the predator issue;
- Issues and consequences become more serious for older youth;
- Most research is centered on middle-school-aged or older children. Little delves into the online lives of younger children; and
- How socio-economic factors affect children's online experiences is not well documented.
Specific Technology:
- Filters work reasonably well to protect younger children (i.e., 6-10 years);
- Young children are less likely to have cell phones, laptops and other mobile devices with internet capabilities; and
- Most Web venues do not allow young children under 14 to have personal profile pages.
Flawed Outcomes:
- The research is not exhaustive, nor comprehensive, or long-term;
- Research does not always match public policy or media coverage—far greater proportion of national attention and resources is given to the predator issue, for instance, than research numbers support.
- In designing solutions to perceived problems, research on child development and education is not often consulted, leading to “solutions” that are not well designed or effective;
- The internet safety conversation is often driven by an anecdote and/or by the media rather than by research and reflection; and
- Much of the information about research into internet safety is misunderstood, occasionally misused, and not well reported.
Research Related to Other Media:
- A large body of medical research exists on children's use of TV, movies, and video games;
- Few studies examine children's use of the internet, which may pose different issues and require different methodology; and
- A new research field is emerging in this area and asks if the same protocols applied to examining the effects of TV or movie viewing can be applied to the online space (e.g., Second Life and online gaming).
General Conclusions:
Behavior of Youth:
- Children are doing more online, from more places, and with more devices;
- Children over the age of eight recognize the difference between real problems (e.g. cyber-bullying) and those that have been exaggerated (e.g. grooming and luring by predators);
- Some studies show kids are changing behavior to use privacy settings (e.g., MySpace) even though they may not fully understand the importance. This behavior modification is due to publicity, parental involvement, and industry application of mandatory privacy settings.
- The online experience is different for each age group;
- Young children cannot distinguish between advertising and entertainment.
Research Parameters:
- It is hard to adequately direct research because more problems than resources exist;
- There is a discrepancy between what research indicates and what law enforcement experiences, particularly on the issue of predators
- The predator issue receives a disproportionate share of publicity and research resources, but there have been very few reported instances. It seems to be, at least in part, a media-created issue that sensationalizes the issue, creates a false impression of the incidence of predators, leads to questionable conclusions, and misdirects attention and resources from other pressing areas;
- More attention should be placed on other, far more prevalent, issues such as bullying, and inadvertent contact with pornography and other potentially harmful content;
- The real risks of self-harm/hate sites are yet to be understood;
- Not enough work is being done on children's ability to filter information;
Research Projects Reviewed:
Pew Internet & American Life
Horrigan, J. (2008, July 2). Home broadband adoption 2008.
Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone interviews with a sample of 2,251 US adults, 18 and older, between April 8 to May 11, 2008.
Lenhart , A., Arafeh, S., Smith, A., Macgill, A.R. ( 2008, April 24).
Writing, technology and teens. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 700 12 to 17 year olds and their parents in continental U.S. from September 19 to November 16, 2007.
Horrigan, J. (2008, March).
Mobile access to data and information. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,054 adults living in the continental United States conducted from October 24 to December 2, 2007.
Lenhart , A., Madden, M., Macgill, A.R., Smith, A. (2007, December 19).
Teens and social media: The use of social media gains a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 935 teens age 12 to 17 years old and their parents living in continental United States conducted from October 23 to November 19, 2006.
Madden, M., Fox, S., Smith, A., Vitak, J. (2007, December 16).
Digital footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone interviews between November 30 to December 30, 2006, among a sample of 2,373 adults, 18 and older.
Smith, A. (2007, October 14).
Teens and online stranger contact. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone survey of 935 teens age 12-17 taken from October 23 to November 19, 2006.
Macgill, A.R. (2007, October 14).
Parent and teenager Internet use. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone survey of 935 teens age 12-17 taken from October 23 to November 19, 2006.
Lenhart , A. (2007, June 27).
Cyberbullying and online teens. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 935 teens age 12 to 17 years old and their parents living in continental United States conducted from October 23 to November 19, 2006 and a total of 7 focus groups were conducted with youth in June 2006.
Lenhart , A., Madden, M. (2007, April 18).
Teens, privacy & online social networks: How teens manage their online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
A telephone sample, designed to represent all teens ages 12 to 17 living in continental U.S. telephone households was conducted from October 23 to November 19, 2006. The sample is also representative of parents living with their teenage children.
Lenhart , A. (2007, January 3).
Social networking websites and teens: An overview. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Telephone survey of 935 teens age 12-17 taken from October 23 to November 19, 2006.
UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center
The Center makes available a number of papers (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/internet-crimes/papers.html) by their researchers. Most of the papers analyze the data collected in the First and Second Youth Internet Safety Surveys, and the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study. Of special interest are:
Wolak, J., Mitchell, K., and Finkelhor, D. (2006).
Online victimization of youth: Five years later. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Bulletin - #07-06-025. Alexandria, VA. (CV138)
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV138.pdf
A telephone survey of a national sample of 1,500 youth Internet users, ages 10 to 17, and their parents or guardians conducted between March 4, 2005, and June 12, 2005.
Ybarra, M. L., Mitchell, K. J., Wolak, J., and Finkelhor, D. (2006).
Examining characteristics and associated distress related to Internet harassment: Findings from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey. Pediatrics, 118(4), 1169-1177. (CV141)
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV141.pdf
Wolak, J., Mitchell, K. J., and Finkelhor, D. (2007).
Unwanted and wanted exposure to online pornography in a national sample of youth Internet users. Pediatrics, 119(2), 247-257. (CV153)
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV153.pdf
Mitchell, K., Wolak, J., and Finkelhor, D. (2007).
Trends in youth reports of unwanted sexual solicitations, harassment and unwanted exposure to pornography on the Internet. Journal of Adolescent Health,40: 116-126. (CV135)
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV135.pdf
Kaiser Family Foundation
Rideout, V. (2007, June).
Parents, children and media. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/7638.pdf
Telephone survey of 1,008 parents of children 2-19 and six focus groups conducted in October 2007.
Foehr, U., (2006, December).
Media multitasking among american youth:
prevalence, predictors and pairings. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
Data collected in 2003/2004. Original study consisted of 1) a nationally representative sample of 2,032 3rd-12th graders (8- to 18-year-olds) who responded to written questionnaires about their media behavior, and 2) a sub-sample of 694 who also completed a seven-day diary of their media use.
Rideout, V. , Hamel, E. (2006, May).
The Media Family: Electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/7500.pdf
A national survey of 1,051 parents with children age six months to six years old and a series of focus groups.
Roberts, D. Foehr, U., Rideout, V. (2005, March).
Generation M: Media in the lives of 8-18 year-olds. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm
Nationally representative telephone survey of 2,032 3rd to 12th-grade students (age 8-18) plus 694 seven-day media-use diaries fielded from October 2003 to March 2004.
Harris Interactive
Cable in the Classroom and Common Sense Media. (2007, September)
Parenting moves online: Parents' Internet actions and attitudes, 2007.
http://www.ciconline.org/poll2007#ppt
Telephone survey of 374 U.S. adults ages 18 and over who are parents or legal guardians of a child ages 8-18 fielded in July, 2006.
Cable in the Classroom. (2006, August)
Parenting the MySpace generation: Parents' Internet actions and attitudes, 2007.
http://www.ciconline.org/poll2006
Telephone survey of 411 parents or guardians of online children ages 6 to18 fielded in August, 2007.
Harris Interactive's Trends & Tudes newsletter summarizes research studies done by Harris and its partners.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_k12.asp
Oppenheim, K. (2008, April).
Social networking sites: growing use among tweens. Trends & Tudes, 7:4.
A comparison of online survey data collected from youth 8-21 in 2006 (n=2,213) and 2007 (n=2,348)
Moessner, C. (2007, April).
Cyberbullying. Trends & Tudes, 6:4.
Online survey of 824 youth ages 13-17 during February, 2006.
Martin, S., Oppenheim, K., (2007, March).
Video gaming: general and pathological use. Trends & Tudes, 6:3.
Online survey of 1,178 youth ages 8-18 during January, 2007.
Markow, D. (2006, October)
Friendships in the age of social networking Websites. Trends & Tudes. 5:9.
Online survey of 1,487 youth ages 8-18 during August, 2006.
The Future of Children
Subrahmanyam, K. & Greenfield, P. (2008, Spring).
Online communication and adolescent relationships. Children and Electronic Media. 18:1 pp. 119-146.
Calvert, S. (2008, Spring). Children as consumers. Children and Electronic Media. 18:1 pp. 205-234.
http://www.futureofchildren.org/pubs-info2825/pubs-info_show.htm?doc_id=674322 [both articles]
Cox Communications
Cox Communications/NCMEC. (2008, July).
Tweens and Internet safety.
Interviews of 1,015 tweens with Internet access, ages 8-12, during 2008. Presentation July 24, 2008.
Cox Communications/NCMEC. (2007, March).
Teen Internet safety survey, wave II.
http://www.cox.com/takecharge/research.asp
Interviews of 1,070 teens with Internet access, ages 13-17, during February and March or 2007.
(Data from first wave survey (2006) is referenced in wave II results.)
National School Boards Association
NSBA (2007, July).
Creating and connecting: research and guidelines on online social—and educational—networking. Alexandria, VA: National School Boards Association.
http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx
2007 online survey of 1,277 children, ages 9-17; online survey of 1039 parents; telephone survey of 250 school district leaders.
USC Annenberg School
Center for the Digital Future (http://www.digitalcenter.org/)
2008 Digital Future Report (highlights at http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/2008-Digital-Future-Report-Final-Release.pdf)
National Crime Prevention Council
Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2008).
Cyberbullying: An exploratory analysis of factors related to offending and victimization. Deviant Behavior, 29, 129-156.
Drs. Hinduja and Patchin run www.cyberbullying.us and have published numerous studies on the topic.
Thinkronize
----- (2007, November).
Schools and generation 'net: Online survey of principals and library media specialists about the Internet in education. Thinkronize.
http://ntdi.nettrekker.com/?page=study_2007
Online survey of 954 K-12 educators in fall of 2007 conducted by Interactive Educational Systems Design , Inc.,
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
----- (2006).
Cyberbully teen & Cyberbully pre-teen. Oakland, CA: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
http://www.fightcrime.org/cyberbullying/cyberbullyingteen.pdf
http://www.fightcrime.org/cyberbullying/cyberbullyingpreteen.pdf
telephone survey of 503 pre-teens and 512 teens July 2006 by Opinion Research Corp.
Berkman Center at Harvard
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
boyd, d. (2007, December) Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2007/Why_Youth_Heart_Social_Network_Sites
Stop Badware
—information about and tracking of malware and other harmful software.
Digital Natives—understanding the key legal, social, and political implications of a generation “born digital”
(http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/digitalnatives).
Rochester Institute of Technology
McQuade, S. & Sampat, N. (2008). Survey of Internet and at-risk behaviors.
Online survey of students, teachers and parents in Monroe County, NY, from May 2007 through June 2008.
From the UK
NCH (2005). Putting u in the picture: mobile bullying survey 2005.
Data from 770 youngsters in the UK aged 11 to 19 from spring 2005. Also includes data from other surveys.