According to a May 26 article on the CNN website, a research team under the direction of Jennie G. Noll of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio reached this conclusion after studying the online activities of 173 girls between the ages of 14 and 17:
The study looked at 104 abused and 69 non-abused. .... Abused adolescents -- who had suffered neglect, physical abuse or sexual abuse -- were recruited from child protective agencies, the authors said.Noll and her research colleagues urged parents to remain vigilant regarding their children's online activities. "Caregiver presence was associated with significantly fewer reports by adolescents of online solicitations," they wrote. "As such, the importance of parental monitoring of adolescent Internet use cannot be understated."
Of the girls studied, 54 percent were white and 46 percent were minorities, of which 82 percent were black and 18 percent were mixed-race, the authors say.The authors held a laboratory session in which they asked the girls to create avatars on a program designed to mimic a popular social networking site, which the authors did not name in the study.
Girls could choose bust and hip size, clothing type, visible navel piercings and skin, eye and hair colors. Girls were given a range of choices that allowed for a more provocative or conservative avatar.
The authors say 40 percent of the girls reported experiencing sexual advances online, and 26 percent reported meeting someone offline after getting to know the person on the Internet. Abused girls were much more likely to have experienced both, the authors found.
Several other experts have noted that, while the online world offers may social and educational benefits to adolescents and teens, it also poses a range of risks, including potential exploitation, cyberbullying, and Internet addiction.
Labels: girls, online, internet
Posted By: Aspen/CRC
