Social networking sites not so "social" for many of the world"s children, with Aussie kids hit hardest
January 17, 2012
A new global study reveals that one in ten parents online (12%) around the world say their child has experienced cyber bullying, while one in four (26%) say they know a child in their community who has experienced same. For those Australian parents, almost 9 in 10 (87%) say the children experienced the harrassing behaviour on social networking sites like Facebook ¨C more than any other country surveyed.
Findings are available in the January edition of Ipsos Global @dvisor. Each month Ipsos speaks to more than 18,000 citizens in 24 countries, including the USA, UK, Russia, Germany, Australia, China, Turkey, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. For each nation, Ipsos receives feedback from between 500 and 1000 online respondents.
Ipsos Director, Ryan Williams, said "Cyberbullying is when a child or children (under the age of 18) intentionally intimidate, offend, threaten or embarrass another child or group of children specifically through the use of information technology. While 15 years ago this phenomenon was virtually nonexistent, awareness of cyber bullying is currently quite high right around the world. Two thirds of respondents were aware of the phenomena, with awareness in Australia coming in at 87% - ahead of all other nations with the exception of Indonesia."
The poll also found there is a global consensus that cyber bullying presents unique challenges. 77% of global respondents (79% in Australia) stated that cyber bullying is a fundamentally different type of bullying that needs special attention from parents and schools, in addition to existing efforts to address bullying in general. Nearly all of those in Japan (91%) and Indonesia (89%) feel this way as does a strong majority in Spain (84%), Argentina (83%), France (83%) and Italy (83%).
"In each country surveyed, our goal was not only to get an idea of the prevalence of this form of bullying, but to also get a fix on where bullying was taking place. According to parents, Australian children were less likely to experience bullying in an online chat room, via email, or on their mobile phone, compared to global averages ¨C but were more likely than any other nation to experience bullying via social networking sites, such as Facebook."
| Platform |
Global Average |
Australian Average |
Rank |
| Social Networking Sites | 60% | 87% | 1st out of 24 |
| Mobile Phone or Mobile Device | 42% | 36% | 15th out of 24 |
| Online Chat Room | 40% | 15% | 22nd out of 24 |
| Email | 32% | 18% | 17th out of 24 |
| Online Instant Messaging | 32% | 19% | 20th out of 24 |
| Other Websites | 20% | 5% | 21st out of 24 |
| Other Form Of Technology | 9% | 3% | 18th out of 24 |
For more information and a copy of the report, call Ryan Williams 0401 717 476
"In fact, the global average for cyber bullying via social networking sites was six in ten. In Australia that figure was almost nine in ten. That"s a significant deviation. However, this is not to say Australian kids are, overall, more likely to be the victims of cyber bullying than most other nations."
Despite Australian children"s relatively high level of Internet access, the poll found that Aussie kids were no more at risk of cyber bullying than many other countries . When asked whether a child in their household had ever experienced cyber bullying, Australia came in at number 7, with 13% saying "yes", behind India (32%), Brazil (19%), Saudi Arabia (19%), Canada (18%) and the United States (15%).
"Australian children were also less likely than children in many other countries to experience ongoing harassment. No Australian parents indicated children in their household experienced regular bullying (through any form of information technology) compared to 13% of parents in India, 10% in Brazil, 5% in the United States and 5% in Argentina."
| My child has experienced cyberbullying | A child in my community has experienced |
| Total | 12% | 26% |
| India | 32% | 45% |
| Indonesia | 14% | 53% |
| Sweden | 14% | 51% |
| Canada | 18% | 31% |
| Australia | 13% | 35% |
| Brazil | 20% | 25% |
| Saudi Arabia | 18% | 23% |
| United States | 15% | 26% |
| South Africa | 10% | 30% |
| Turkey | 5% | 35% |
| Mexico | 8% | 28% |
| Argentina | 9% | 27% |
| China | 11% | 25% |
| Great Britain | 11% | 25% |
| South Korea | 8% | 27% |
| Poland | 12% | 20% |
| Belgium | 12% | 13% |
| Russia | 5% | 15% |
| Germany | 7% | 12% |
| Japan | 7% | 12% |
| Hungary | 7% | 11% |
| Italy | 3% | 15% |
| Spain | 5% | 11% |
| France | 5% | 10% |
For more information and a copy of the report, call Ryan Williams 0401 717 476
About Ipsos
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