[International] The Lasting Consequences Can be Greater Than That of Physical Violence: Cyber bullying & cyber attacks on children

Eighteen percent of children between the ages of 12 and 14 have been victims of some form of online violence, and eleven percent have claimed to be Internet bullies. Of the children who were exposed to frequent online violence, 62 percent said the abuser was a person they knew, or even a classmate.

In addition, girls are more often victims, but also more frequently bullies on the Internet than boys. A survey in the U.S., which included children aged 10 to 17 who use the Internet regularly, found that 19 percent of these children were exposed to sexually inappropriate messages. Of the exposed children, 25 percent showed a higher level of stress afterwards. The greatest stress was experienced by children aged 10 to 13, children who used a computer outside the home, children who received aggressive messages of sexual content and in cases where the other person tried to persuade the child to meet. Most children experienced unwanted and sexually inappropriate messages while using a computer at home, and 7 percent encountered such messages using a computer at school. The 48 percent of children whose parents do not have access to their e-mails were more likely to receive messages with sexual content (32 percent, compared to 20 percent of children who use their parents' address for correspondence).

"The audience of cyberbullying is often much wider than that of the school playground or in the classroom. In addition, there is the power of the written word in cyberbullying, because the victim can re-read what the bully wrote and there is very little chance of avoiding because the abuser can remain anonymous. For many children, this fact serves as an incentive to behave violently, although in the real world would very likely not be violent, ” says Vahidin Djaltur, a cyber-violence expert.

More on this important subject can be found here.