Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

1 in 3 U.K. Teenage Girls Tell of Sexual Abuse by Their Boyfriends

One in three U.K. teenage girls has suffered sexual abuse from a boyfriend and one in four has experienced violence in a relationship, according to an in-depth study published recently.

The survey, by the NSPCC and Bristol University, found that of the 1,353 teenage girls and boys questioned across the UK, nearly 90% of girls aged 13 to 17 had been in an intimate relationship. A similar number of boys had been in relationships.

A quarter of girls had suffered physical violence, including being slapped, punched or beaten by their boyfriends, according to the study.

Source: The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/01/teenage-sexual-abuse-nspcc-report

Study Has Mostly Good News About Online Predator Risk

The stereotypical online predator just might be a myth, according to new research released by the Crimes Against Children Research Center. Of note, there was no evidence that online predators used personal information obtained from social networking websites to stalk or abduct unsuspecting victims. Rather, most underage sex crimes involving online predators (who were arrested) were with adolescents that knew they were communicating with older adults who wanted sex, and willingly went to meet the offenders face-to-face.

The news from a new online predator study is mostly good. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center (CCRC) found only a modest increase in the number of adults arrested for solicitation of actual minors, which could be accounted for by the growth in the number of youth Internet users.

In 2006 there were 615 arrests for soliciting a real child, compared with 508 in 2000 and during that interval the percentage of young people using the Internet grew from 73 percent to 93 percent. The study defined young people as ages 17 and below. (To put that into some kind of perspective, there were more than 25 million 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. in 2006 based on U.S. Census Bureau data as reported on ChildStats.gov.)

The time span covered by this new study coincides with the advent of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, which weren't around in 2000. And considering the numbers, it should help dispel the hysteria about the so-called predator dangers on social-networking sites.

The study did reveal a very significant number of sting operation arrests in which the offender approached an undercover police officer posing as a minor. That's a crime and, says CCRC Director David Finkelhor, these sting operations may have played a major role in helping to reduce the number of actual victims by taking predators off the street and deterring others from even trying.

The study found that during 2006, 87 percent of the arrests involved solicitation of undercover cops, and 13 percent of the cases involved actual minors. To put this into perspective, online predator arrests that year accounted for only 1 percent of all arrests for sex crimes against children.

Source: CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10208135-238.html

To read the report of the National Juvenile Online Victimization study from the Crimes Against Children Research Center, click here.

Popular Youth Web Sites Expose Teens, Tweens to Risky Behaviors

Director of National Drug Control Policy, John P. Walters, recently released a startling data compilation indicating the extent to which Internet sites -- particularly those that post user-generated content -- can spread misinformation and facilitate dangerous behaviors among teens, tweens, and younger children. These behaviors can include drug and alcohol use, self-mutilation, extreme violence, and anorexia and other eating disorders. While many parents are becoming aware of the risks of online pedophiles and other sexual predators, the majority of parents are unaware of the nature and extent to which their children are exposed to or engaging in dangerous behaviors online.

"Parents read news stories about Internet pedophiles, and they understandably worry about their children being exposed to online pornography. But they may not be aware how pervasive this content is, and how young the children are who are being exposed to this for the first time. And research shows parents aren't worrying about drug, alcohol, and other dangerous content online and how it impacts their child's behavior," said Director Walters. "Teens, tweens, and even younger children, are barraged by risky material on the Internet. Parents need to get online and see for themselves what their child has access to. It's time for them to upgrade their parenting skills."

ONDCP's data snapshot of teen online exposure shows that:
-- Nearly one in 20 teens online viewed drug-related videos during a one- month period; 35 percent were under age 16 (Nielsen Online Custom Study);
-- Almost 40 percent of drug-related videos contain explicit use of drugs and/or intoxication (Nielsen Online Custom Study);
-- Even the youngest kids have access to dangerous online content. Over 8.9 million (8,934,000) two to eleven year olds viewed video online in August (Nielsen Online, VideoCensus);
-- The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old. Eighty percent of 15- to 17-year-olds have been exposed to hardcore porn multiple times (Internet-Filter-Review.com);
-- More than one in eight teens say someone has spread a rumor about them online. Nine percent of teens who use social networking sites say someone has posted an embarrassing picture of them online without their permission ("Cyberbullying and Online Teens." Pew Internet &American Life Project: Data Memo);
-- Nearly a third of students say their parents would disapprove if they knew what they were really doing on the Internet (i-SAFE Survey);
-- Drug use and underage drinking don't make parents' top 10 list of concerns of their kids' online computer use (State of Internet Security: Protecting Children Online." Webroot Software).

Today's tech-savvy teens are targets for those promoting substance abuse and other risky behaviors by posting pictures to their social-networking pages or uploading video on sites like YouTube.com. The Web and image-sharing technologies available on cell phones have exponentially expanded teens' abilities to see and engage in dangerous behaviors.

Source: Market Watch
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/popular-youth-web-sites-expose/story.aspx?guid=%7BE58DA462-843B-4F1C-9D8C-25FB148F6730%7D&dist=hppr

For Young Adults, Relationship Violence Peaks in High School

Another study (unrelated to the one I posted about on 7/9/08) shows that teens are experiencing violence in relationships...

More than four in 10 college students have been the victim of relationship violence by a partner, friend, or acquaintance, according to a new study.

"All forms of relationship violence are prevalent among male and female college students; almost half of the students had experienced relationship violence at some point in their lives, more than one-third had experienced violence before college and one-quarter had experienced violence during college," write researcher Christine M. Forke, MSN, CRNP, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The results showed 42% had been the victim of relationship violence by a partner, friend, or acquaintance either before or during college, and 17% had been the perpetrator. Rates of relationship violence were higher before college than during college.

Emotional violence was the most common type of relationship violence reported before college (21%), while sexual and emotional violence were equally common during college (12%).

Source: CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/08/health/webmd/main4242422.shtml

Survey: Teens Dating Younger, Experiencing More Violence in Relationships

A troubling new survey reveals that teens (even "tweens") are dating earlier, and are experiencing emotional and sexual abuse in their relationships. Here's one disturbing finding: 37% of 11-12 year-olds say they have had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Yikes!

Tweens and teens in dating relationships are experiencing significant levels of various forms of abuse, many don't know the warning signs of an abusive relationship, and many parents don't know what's going on in those relationships, a new survey says.

Among the findings:

69 percent of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

40 percent of the youngest tweens, those between the ages of 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships, and nearly one-in-ten (9 percent) say their friends have had sex.

Nearly three-in-four tweens (72 percent) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger.

More than one-in-three 11-12 year olds (37percent) say they have been in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

One-in-five between the ages of 13 and 14 say their friends are victims of dating violence, such as getting struck, hit or slapped by a boyfriend or girlfriend, and nearly half of all tweens in relationships say they know friends who are verbally abused.

One-in-five 13-14 year olds in relationships (20 percent) say they know friends and peers who've been struck in anger (kicked, hit, slapped, or punched) by a boyfriend or girlfriend.

In addition, significant numbers of teens (15-18) are experiencing emotional and mental abuse as well as violence when dating; it's even more prevalent among teens who've had sex by 14.

The survey, which was commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. and loveisrespect.org, was conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited. Loveisrespect.org operates the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline.

Source: CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/08/earlyshow/living/relationships/main4240192.shtml