Kids keep parents in the =
dark
about cyberbullying (CNET)
-
Online bullying could be more pervasive than you think.
Three
out of four teens were bullied online over the last year, according to a study released this week by psychologists at the
The
anonymous Web-based study surveyed 1,454 kids between the ages of 12 and 17=
. Of
those, 41 percent reported between one and three cyberbullying incidents during the year; 13 percent reported fou=
r to
six incidents; and 19 percent reported seven or more. In other words, no lo=
nger
are victims of bullying relegated to the geeks and nerds of yore when it co=
mes
to the Internet.
The
psychologists published the results of their research in the September issu=
e of
the Journal of School Health.
Many
teens neglected to tell their parents about the incidents because they beli=
eved
they "need to learn to deal with it," according to the research.
Others kept it to themselves because they feared that their parents would c=
ut back
on their Internet access.
"Many
parents do not understand how vital the Internet is to their social
lives," said Jaana Ju=
vonen,
lead study author and a professor of psychology and chair of UCLA's developmental psychology program. "Parents c=
an
take detrimental action with good intentions, such as trying to protect the=
ir
children by not letting them use the Internet at all. That is not likely to
help parent-teen relationships or the social lives of their children."=
Juvonen said it's important that parents talk with
their kids about bullying well before it happens, as well as look for chang=
es
in teens' behavior.
However,
it's also equally important to teach children the importance of not becoming
bullies themselves, is it not? Surely if bullyin=
g is
this prevalent online, it's not always a one-sided affair.