Risks Of Cyber Relationships In Adolescents And Young People

Cyber-risks are moving targets and societal responses to combat cyber-victimization are often met by the distrust of young people. Drawing on original research, this book explores how young people define, perceive, and experience cyber-risks, how they respond to both the messages they are receiving from society regarding their safety online, and the various strategies and practices employed by society in regulating their online access and activities. This book complements existing quantitative examinations of cyberbullying assessing its extent and frequency, but also aims to critique and extend knowledge of how cyber-risks such as cyberbullying are perceived and responded to. Following a discussion of their methodology and their experiences of conducting research with teens, the authors discuss the social network services that teens are using and what they find appealing about them, and address teens’ experiences with and views towards parental and school-based surveillance. The authors then turn directly to areas of concern expressed by their participants, such as relational aggression, cyberhacking, privacy, and privacy management, as well as sexting. The authors conclude by making recommendations for policy makers, educators and teens – not only by drawing from their own theoretical and sociological interpretations of their findings, but also from the responses and recommendations given by their participants about going online and tackling cyber-risk. One of the first texts to explore how young people respond to attempts to regulate online activity, this book will be key reading for those involved in research and study surrounding youth crime, cybercrime, youth culture, media and crime, and victimology – and will inform those interested in addressing youth safety online how to best approach what is often perceived as a sensitive and volatile social problem.

This book engages with contemporary, and often polarizing, debates surrounding the risks of adolescent use of digital media and internet technologies. By drawing on multiple research studies, the text synthesizes current understandings of the impacts of social network use, online gaming, pornography, and phenomena, including cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and internet addiction, to develop recommendations for the effective identification of at-risk youth, as well as strategies for informed communication about online risks and opportunities. It shows how media discussion of risks to children and teenagers from new technology is highly emotive and often exaggerated, rooted in the “moral panic” surrounding new cultural practices that young people engage in, but which adults do not understand. Online risks are thus conceptualized as centering on three areas, specific to adolescence, which have undergone radical changes due to new internet technology. These include young people’s identity, the types of content that are accessed, and social relationships. The author shows how these matters stem from the potential of new technology to establish new interpersonal connections, emphasizing how it brings opportunities, as much as risks. As such, he provides a uniquely balanced discussion of potential dangers, while also emphasizing the opportunities for social, academic, and personal growth which new technologies afford young people. It will be indispensable for researchers and clinicians interested in assessing levels of online risk, as well as scholars and educators with interests in cyberpsychology, social psychology, cyber culture, social aspects of computing and media, and adolescent development.

Since around the 1970s, the world has witnessed a technological revolution equaling no less than a global paradigm shift in the way we communicate in our social relationships. The impact of the new technology has impacted every aspect of our lives from early childhood to older ages. This technology has revolutionized social communication and brought the world together with a single click. This book explores the effects of the internet on our social relationships. This impact is tremendous and often individuals seek therapy for the new issues that this type of communication presents, whether it be parents who are concerned about their teenagers addiction to texting, blogging, and posting on Facebook, My Space or Twitter; or couples whose relationships are threatened by internet infidelity, inattentiveness to their partner, and/or abuse of pornographic websites. The chapters contained in this book provide not only important information on these topics across the life span but also provide helpful hints for individuals and mental health practitioners as well.

Child and Adolescent Online Risk Exposure: An Ecological Perspective focuses on online risks and outcomes for children and adolescents using an ecological perspective (i.e., the intersection of individuals in relevant contexts) for a better understanding of risks associated with the youth online experience. The book examines the specific consequences of online risks for youth and demonstrates how to develop effective and sensitive interventions and policies. Sections discuss why online risks are important, individual and contextual factors, different types of risk, online risks among special populations, such as LGBT youth, physically or intellectually disabled youth, and ethnic and religious minorities, and intervention efforts. Examines online risks such as problematic internet use, contact risk behaviors, online exploitation, online hate, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking Explores the concept of digital citizenship Includes theoretical considerations and the prevalence of online risks Covers policy and intervention recommendations for reducing online risks

"This edited volume addresses the pressing need to establish a unified theoretical framework for adolescent online social communication research, specifically, identify the role and function of the Internet in adolescent social communication behavior, dynamic relationships among such things as adolescent social-psychological needs, personality, and social norms in online communication, and theories with practices in adolescent online social communication"--T.p. verso.

As internet use is extending to younger children, there is an increasing need for research focus on the risks young users are experiencing, as well as the opportunities, and how they should cope. With expert contributions from diverse disciplines and a uniquely cross-national breadth, this timely book examines the prospect of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy by both strangers and peers. Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, it offers wholly new findings that extend previous research and counter both the optimistic and the pessimistic hype. It argues that, in the main, children are gaining the digital skills, coping strategies and social support they need to navigate this fast-changing terrain. But it also identifies the struggles they encounter, pinpointing those for whom harm can follow from risky online encounters. Each chapter presents new findings and analyses to inform both researchers and students in the social sciences and policy makers in government, industry or child welfare who are working to enhance children's digital experiences.

Violence Against Children adopts in its title the exhortation of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, "Making Human Rights Real," which also represents the leitmotif of the book. It examines the prevalence of violence against children in Africa, the Asia Pacific Region, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the United States, and explores major ways of its prevention. Making human rights real engenders the challenge of helping all children to be free from violence and to lead a life replete with genuine nurture and the elimination of all violence. Only in this manner will the goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development —target 16.2—be achieved and the child as a rights-bearing individual realized in her/his fullness. The specially commissioned chapters that make up the volume have been written by renowned scholars, researchers and advocates. They coalesce to provide an overview of the challenges facing children exposed to violence worldwide, and they advance discussions of the measures which are available and necessary for the prevention of violence against children. The book is intended for policy-makers, researchers and students of the social sciences and human rights who are interested in ending all the widespread maltreatment of children in our societies and our time.