Exploring adolescents online victimization in relation to parent-child interactions

• In Event: "Navigating Cyber Challenges: Adolescent Online Victimization and Its Implications"

Abstract

The digital world nowadays exposes children and youth to a wealth of information, so that parents often find themselves navigating a delicate balance between granting online freedom and ensuring children's safety. Youth Online victimization has become a noteworthy challenge and a main topic of modern parenting. At the core of this issue is the complex interplay between the nature of parent-child dynamics and the likelihood of youth to experience online victimization.
The current study have explored adolescents' online victimization in relation to key characteristic of parent-child interactions: Parental involvement, parental control and parent-child relationships. The sample included 3,306 adolescents (aged 10-17) who fulfilled questionnaires regarding the examined variables. Using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analyses, it was found that parents' control and parents-child relationship were relatively high, while parents' involvement in students' internet use was moderate. High levels of parental involvement were associated with a high level of online-victimization. High levels of parental involvement were also associated with student's efforts to prevent and stop the harm of the victimization, both individually, for themselves, and for other online victims. Students with stronger relationship with their parents were less involved in cyberbullying episodes as victims. Furthermore, high levels of parental control were associated with students' lower social skills and ways of coping with online risks and online victimization. Yet, strong relationships between students and their parents were related to high levels of awareness and knowledge regarding victimization on the Internet.
Results are reported from the adolescents' point of view and discussed in the context of developing intervention programs for parents to cope with their children online victimization. The challenge lies in balancing the need for protection with respecting youths' autonomy and privacy online

Authors

• Dorit Olenik-Shemesh, The Open University of Israel

• Tali Heiman, The Open University