Perils and possibilities: Growing up online - new UNICEF report

As part of their work with #WeProtect (a global alliance to end child sexual exploitation online), UNICEF has published a brief report which showcases young people's perceptions of the risks that children and adolescents face coming of age in the digital world.

Date 2016-06-14 Author UNICEF Section awareness, research
Perils and possibilities: Growing up online' focuses on the findings of a recent UNICEF/Ipsos global poll of more than 10,000 18-year-olds from 25 countries. 
 
More than half of adolescents think that they have friends that participate in risky online behaviours. 59 per cent said that meeting new people online is either somewhat or very important to them.
 
Peer support is clearly important with 54 per cent of respondents saying that they would tell a friend if they were threatened or felt unsafe online. 44 per cent strongly agreed that they could help a friend who is facing an online risk. The figure for central European countries was 63 per cent. 
 
The report finds that adolescent boys seem to value privacy less than adolescent girls. 67 per cent of girls strongly agree that they would be worried if they received sexual comments or requests from someone online as opposed to less than half of adolescent boys. In central Europe, the difference was much more significant with 78 per cent of girls and only 33 per cent of boys saying they would be worried about receiving such comments.
 
Download the full report from the UNICEF website.

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