More than 10 percent of parents around the world say their children have been harassed on the Internet, survey reveals.
More than 10 percent of parents around the world say their children have been harassed on the Internet and almost one in four knows a child who has been a victim, according to a survey of
And more than 75 percent of respondents in the global survey thought that cyberbullying is different from other types of harassment and that it requires special attention and efforts from parents and schools.
“The data clearly shows a desire in citizens around the world to establish a specific responsibility for cyberbullying,” said Keren Gottfried, of the global research firm Ipsos, which conducted the survey.
But, he added, whether schools are up to scratch or not is up to educators.
The online survey of more than 18,000 adults in 24 countries, 6,500 of whom were parents, showed that the vehicle for cyberbullying that was most recorded were social networks like Facebook, cited by 60 percent. Mobile devices and chats were far behind, with 40 percent each.
Although the survey showed that knowledge of the existence of cyberbullying is relatively high, since two thirds of the respondents said they had heard, read or seen information about the phenomenon, geographical and cultural differences were abundant.
In Indonesia, 91 percent of respondents said they had knowledge about cyberbullying, in which a child, group of children or young adolescents intentionally intimidates, threatens or embarrasses another minor through information technologies such as social networks or Mobile devices
It was followed by Australia with 87 percent, followed closely by Poland and Sweden. But only 29 percent in Saudi Arabia and 35 percent in Russia had heard of cyberbullying.
In the United States, where cases of cyberbullying have had a great media impact due to their connection with teenage suicides, knowledge stood at 82 percent.
In India, 32 percent of parents said their children had suffered cyberbullying, followed by 20 percent from Brazil, 18 percent from Canada and Saudi Arabia and 15 percent from the United States.
Together, the parents of Spain and France reported the lowest incidence of cyberbullying regarding their own children or someone in their community.
Gottfried said that future studies could show if there is a tendency towards greater knowledge of cyberbullying and shed some light on what affects parents’ awareness.