Orig. title: The impact of becoming a parent about the perception of Internet risk behaviors
Engl. transl.: The impact of becoming a parent about the perception of Internet risk behaviors
Keywords
Internet
Risks
Technologies
Adolescents
Parents
Publication details
| Year: | 2020 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104803 |
| Issued: | 2020 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 110 |
| Issue: | C |
| Start Page: | 1 |
| End Page: | 9 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Altuna J.; Martínez-de-Morentin J.; Lareki A. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Children and Youth Services Review |
| Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
| Topics: | Risks and harms; Internet usage, practices and engagement |
| Sample: | A sample of 1383 participants was taken from a very wide variety of groups, all of them citizens of the Basque Country and Navarre (two autonomous regions in Europe which belong administratively to Spain). The first group consists of 259 adults with direct connections to the world of education. This group is subdivided into 89 parents (39.4%), organized according to the schools attended by their children, and all of them have teenage children falling within the sample age range of 9 to 16. The remaining170 (65.6%) members of this group are adults who are not parents. All are over 18 years of age (the age at which people become adults in the territory where the study was carried out). The second group corresponds to 1124 adolescents aged between 9 and 16, from 17 schools in the two regions. The data was collected in a single period of time, with no manipulation of the variables that naturally occur. This is therefore a cross-sectional study in which different variables have been related inferentially, with the age variable being the most important. The results obtained after carrying out a series of analyses have enabled us to discover adolescents’ perceptions of digital technology use and, in turn, to compare this perception with that of adults. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental digital literacy ; Parenting guidance / support ; Other |
| Other Parent Implication: | Cooperation with pedagogical staff, the need to improving family communication based on their children´s digital experiences |
| Implications For Educators About: | School networking; School innovation; Other; Digital citizenship |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | High-quality content online for children and young people; Creating a safe environment for children online; Other; Stepping up awareness and empowerment |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | The need to develop and implementing specific digital literacy programms for families and teachers to maximise children digital opportunities |
Abstract
The object of this research is to learn about the perception held by the adults of the risk behaviors related to digital technologies and to compare their perception with that of adolescents. Adults perceive Internet risks differently from adolescents. Being a father or a mother may modify this perception vis-á-vis their children. To do this, a quantitative and descriptive study was carried out. Based on a questionnaire, in which 1383 individuals participated: 259 adults and 1124 adolescents. The results confirm that: (a) the adults have a high perception of the seriousness of risk behaviors; (b) being a parent is a that increases this perception; and (c) there are significant differences in the perception of risks between adults and a part of the adolescents, who are mainly older boys. Among the conclusions, we would highlight the need to incorporate training processes for young people aimed at encouraging critical thinking around risk behaviors, in which both adolescents and adults participate together. This will mean that the perception of risk behaviors will increase in an efficacious way, as well as fostering a more responsible use of digital technologies by adolescents.
Outcome
This research confirms that adolescents have a lower perception of the risks involved in Internet and digital technology use than adults. Nonetheless, Altuna, Martínez de Morentin & Lareki (2020) point out that despite the differences between the adolescents and the adults, the second group is not completely homogeneous and it can be divided into two subgroups with a different perception of risk: adults who are parents have a greater perception of risk than those who do not have children.
The authors stress out that becoming a parent, which changes one’s perceptions around certain beliefs and represents an important change in living habits, does also affect the perception of risk linked to the use of digital technologies and the Internet. Altuna, Martínez de Morentin & Lareki (2020:7) also highlight that, “it is essential to set educational projects in motion aimed at fostering the responsible use of digital technologies, to make it possible to increase the levels of risk perception among the most vulnerable group, in this case, adolescents.” The authors advise to implement specific programs in the family and school environment incorporating processes in which adults who are also parents can interact with older teenagers to increase their perception of risk and therefore encourage them to use the technology in a safer way: “once trained, these same adolescents could participate in training processes aimed at younger teenagers, thereby creating intergenerational sequence” (Altuna, Martínez de Morentin & Lareki (2020:7).
[Translated and adaptated by the coder from the original text cited]