PROTOCOL: Prevention and intervention of cyber abuse targeting children and adolescents: A systematic review to evaluate current approaches

The rapid growth of electronic and computer based communication and information sharing during the last decade has changed individuals’ social interactions, learning strategies and choice of entertainment. The Internet has created a new communication tool, particularly for young people whose use of e-mail, websites, instant messaging, web cams, chat rooms, social networking sites and text messaging is exploding worldwide. There is evidence, for example, that young people's use of the Internet is now a preferred pastime over watching television (Kaynay & Yelsma, 2000; Nie & Hillygus, 2002). While there are many benefits that result from electronic based communication, the Internet also has a dark side whereby young people can fall victim to sexual perpetrators, stalkers, exploiters, and peers who bully online. Recent large scale cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of cyber abuse demonstrate that this is a growing problem, in which commonly recognized forms of child maltreatment (sexual and emotional abuse) are being pursued via the Internet (Berson, Berson & Ferron, 2002; Mitchell, Finkelhor & Wolak 2001, 2003; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004a, 2004b). These findings have been supported by studies from around the world suggesting that the prevalence of cyber abuse of children and youth is growing dramatically (Aloysius, 2001; Arnaldo & Finnström 1998; Cowburn & Dominelli, 2001; Durkin & Low, 1998; Finkelhor, Mitchell, & Wolak, 2000; Sellier, 2001), with detrimental short and long term effects on the psychosocial functioning of the children and youth involved. Cyber abuse is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of activities including cyber bullying, cyber stalking, cyber sexual solicitation, and cyber pornography. Cyber bullying includes the use by peers of email, cell phones, text messages, and Internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, socially exclude, or damage reputations and friendships. Cyber stalking, as an extension of the physical form of stalking, is where individuals utilize electronic mediums such as the Internet to pursue, harass or contact another in an unsolicited fashion. Cyber sexual solicitation is the use of electronic mediums such as the Internet to identify, “groom,” and entice individuals to perform sexual acts on or offline. Cyber pornography includes the production and dissemination of graphic sexual content through technology, such as the Internet and cell phones. Prevalence studies have highlighted the extent of the impact of cyber abuse in the lives of children and youth. The Youth Internet Safety Survey, a US nationally representative telephone survey of 1500 youth between the ages of 10 and 17 who use the Internet regularly, was first conducted in 2000 and subsequently updated in 2005 (Finkelhor et al., 2000; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006). The Youth Internet Safety Survey highlighted exposure to cyber pornography as well as experience with cyber sexual solicitation and cyber bullying, in particular. With respect to cyber pornography, 34 percent of youth reported being exposed to sexual content online that they did not want to see in 2005, an increase from 25 percent in 2000. Cyber stalking through online harassment also increased, to nine percent of youth Internet users in 2005 from six percent in 2000. While a smaller proportion of youth Internet users received unwanted sexual solicitations in 2005 (13 percent) than 2000 (19 percent), the number of youth Internet users receiving aggressive sexual solicitations – in which sexual solicitors made or attempted to make offline contact with youth – remained the same. Most disturbingly, the already low rate at which authorities were informed about online sexual solicitation decreased during the period from 2000 to 2005, with nine percent of incidents of solicitation reported in 2000, compared to only five percent in 2005 (Wolak et al., 2006). In 2002, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children conducted a survey of 1,501 youths, ages 10 to 17, with similar results. One in five of the youth were found to have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet in that year. Three percent had received an aggressive sexual solicitation (offered to meet somewhere, called on the telephone, or received money or gifts), and one in four reported unwanted exposure to nude pictures or people engaged in sex. Results of the survey also indicated that less than ten percent of these approaches were ever reported to police and only 40 percent of the incidents were mentioned to parents (Magid, 1998). Regarding cyber bullying, there remains little research that explores this phenomenon. Peer victimization and aggression that occurs online can be conceptualized similarly to traditional bullying (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004b), comprising behaviours with the intent to distress the child who is victimized (Olweus, 1993) and with an actual or perceived power imbalance (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004b). The findings of the Youth Internet Safety Survey are that approximately one in five youth reported experience with online harassment within the past year (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004a). A study conducted in a Canadian city found that about 70 percent of students reported hearing about incidents of cyber-bullying, 21 percent had been bullied several times, and 3 percent reported engaging in this form of bullying (Beran & Li, 2005). A considerable percentage of youth who identified being bullied online also reported that they were targets of traditional bullying, whereas other youth reported being victims of online harassment but not of traditional bullying. Three percent of the youth reported being both aggressors and targets, four percent reported being targets only and 12 percent reported acting aggressively towards others online. A study by the Cyberspace Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire found that of the one in four young people who reported being bullied through email or text messaging approximately one-third will never tell anyone about the harassment (O’ Connell, Price & Barrow, 2004). This corresponds with the findings that a significant percentage of children who are bullied through traditional methods do not tell anyone (Hanish & Guerra, 2000; Mishna, Pepler, & Wiener, 2006). Although not identical phenomena, research on traditional bullying can be used as a starting point for examining online bullying (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004b), leading to concerns regarding the social, emotional and academic impact of cyber bullying on children and youth. Beran and Li (2005) administered a survey asking students about their reactions to cyber bullying. The majority of students reported feelings of sadness, anxiety, and fear, and stated that it affected their ability to concentrate on their school work and to attain good marks. Findings suggest that the effects of traditional bullying may be far-reaching for children who bully and who are victimized, both of whom are at risk of experiencing emotional, social, and psychiatric problems that may persist into adulthood (Craig, 1998; Crick & Bigbee, 1998; Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, Scheidt, 2001; O’Connell, Pepler, & Craig, 1999). One significant difference between online and traditional bullying is the perceived anonymity of the child who bullies in the case of online harassment (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004b). As with traditional bullying, a systemic-ecological framework is considered essential in order to understand and address cyber abuse, including cyber bullying, cyber stalking, cyber sexual solicitation and cyber pornography (Atlas & Pepler, 1998; Hanish & Guerra, 2000; Olweus, 1994). This framework builds on the assumption that, since people are embedded in social and environmental contexts, multiple factors invariably contribute to social behavioural patterns (Cairns & Cairns, 1991; Germain & Bloom, 1999). According to this conceptual framework, cyber abuse does not reside solely with the child who is exposed to cyber abuse or who is victimized, but unfolds in the social context of the peer group, the classroom, the school, the family and the larger community and society as a whole. The victimized child's inability to defend him/herself is integral. Given the belief that protection from abuse is a fundamental human right, others are obliged to intervene (Atlas & Pepler, 1998; Finkelhor, 1995; Olweus, 1991, 1997). All aspects of cyber abuse targeting children and youth, including cyber bullying, cyber stalking, cyber sexual solicitation, and cyber pornography, have increased significantly. This increase has been met with an associated greater interest in developing prevention and intervention strategies to protect this vulnerable population. For example, Article 17 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provided an international framework for child protection issues associated with the media. These prevention and intervention strategies encompass educational campaigns for children and parents about the risks of the Internet, the development of software which filters or blocks offensive material, and methods to prevent potential offenders from carrying out cyber abuse as well as treatment for those who do offend. Though the research is sparse, efforts to document the impact of cyber abuse provide a picture of the significant repercussions of cyber abuse and the vulnerability of children and youth targeted for abuse. Thirty-eight percent of youth who experienced online harassment reported emotional distress as a result of the incident (Ybarra et al., 2006) and youth who were online aggressors reported struggling with a number of psychosocial difficulties, including problematic relationships with parents, delinquency and substance use (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2000a). Depressive symptoms were associated with being sexually solicited online (Ybarra, Leaf, & Diener-West, 2004), while an association has been found between depressive symptoms and being harassed online among youth, particularly males (Ybarra, 2004). It is clear that a focus on prevention and intervention efforts is pivotal to ensure the safety of children and youth for whom technology is increasingly an academic and social necessity and way of life. A preliminary search of peer reviewed journals and the grey literature has uncovered a growing emphasis on protecting children and youth from the dangers of the Internet. For example, several programs have been developed to educate children and youth about the risks of Internet use (Chibnall, Wallace, Leicht, & Lunghofer, 2006; Crombie & Trinneer, 2003; Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005; Gray, 1997; KidSmart, 2002; Wishart, Andrews, & Yee, 2005; Wishart, Dungworth, & Smith, 2002; Woolley & Gabriels, 1999). As well, new strategies have been created to block children's access to unapproved websites (Censorware Project, 2000; Consumer Reports, 2001, 2005; Richardson, 2002; Schneider, 1997); to filter graphic descriptions and images (Hunter, 2000; Schneider, 1997); to monitor children's online activities through parent education programs; and to reduce child exploitation through the development of specialized law enforcement programs. Efforts to educate children and youth regarding the dangers of online activity have received particular emphasis in the prevention and intervention grey literature. Education efforts for children and youth are predominantly administered by teachers and located within school settings (Chibnall et al., 2006; Crombie & Trinneer, 2003; Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005; Gray, 1997; KidSmart, 2002; Wishart et al., 2005; Wishart et al., 2002; Woolley & Gabriels, 1999). In addition to presentations, innovative educational mediums include computer games (Crombie & Trinneer, 2003), cyber solicitation simulations (Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005), and websites (KidSmart, 2002). Preliminary research has also shown that children appear to be responsive to Internet safety messages within the context of drama-based learning (Berson & Berson, 2002; KidSmart, 2002). Educational efforts are aimed at a range of student ages, from age 5 (Woolley & Gabriels, 1999) to age 19 (Livingstone & Bober 2005), with a particular emphasis on middle-school children (Crombie & Trinneer, 2003; Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005; Gray, 1997). Educational efforts have been undertaken in New Zealand (Woolley & Gabriels, 1999), England (Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005; Wishart et al., 2005; Wishart et al., 2002), the United States (Chibnall, Wallace, Leicht, & Lunghofer, 2006; KidSmart, 2002), and Canada (Crombie & Trinneer, 2003; Gray, 1997). Research to evaluate these educational efforts has focused on assessing outcomes related to children's knowledge of online safety strategies, knowledge of dangers involved in Internet use, and high risk online behaviour. Research findings have shown the benefit of educational activities, suggesting that youth who receive education regarding Internet safety exhibit knowledge regarding Internet safety strategies (Chibnall et al., 2006; Crombie & Trinneer, 2003; Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005; Gray, and regarding dangers associated with Internet use (Davidson & Martellozzo, 2005). there is also to that while knowledge increased as a result of there was little to in online (Chibnall et al., 2006; Crombie & Trinneer, such as Internet or have also received research In the of efforts to block websites with sexual or other and offensive content has been (Censorware Project, 2000; Consumer Reports, 2001, 2005; Richardson, 2002; Schneider, 1997). The of software is in research that children and youth will based by their parents on Internet use (Livingstone & 2005). The between and exposure to sexual Finkelhor, & Wolak, and Internet harassment (Ybarra & Mitchell, have also been outcomes include the ability of intervention to filter or block sexual Internet and have been shown to be in – but not – the of sexual content to which children are exposed online Reports, 2001, 2005; 2000; et al., 2003; Schneider, 1997). In software was found to block content Reports, 2001, 2005; 2000; Schneider, 1997). The between the of sexual content that through the filter and the of content was found to be related to the of block used 2002). While software was associated with a in exposure to sexual it was not to a in Internet harassment (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004). The of and software have been with results. Research on the of filter users has highlighted a of that indicated little knowledge of the programs their school utilize & The of those of software has been with parents who were a software problems associated with online pornography and & 2004). particular interest is the benefit of to cyber abuse than children and youth the among children and youth to on their Internet use (Livingstone & 2005). 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