tailieunhanh - THE EXPOSURE OF YOUTH TO UNWANTED SEXUAL MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET: A National Survey of Risk, Impact, and Prevention

This national survey of youth, ages 10 to 17, and their caretakers has several implications for the current debate about young people and Internet pornography. Twentyfive percent of youth had unwanted exposure to sexual pictures on the Internet in the past year, challenging the prevalent assumption that the problem is primarily about young people motivated to actively seek out pornography. Most youth had no negative reactions to their unwanted exposure, but one quarter said they were very or extremely upset, suggesting a priority need for more research on and interventions directed toward such negative effects. The use of filtering and blocking software was associated with a modest reduction. | THE EXPOSURE OF YOUTH TO UNWANTED SEXUAL MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET A National Survey of Risk Impact and Prevention KIMBERLY J. MITCHELL DAVID FINKELHOR JANIS WOLAK University of New Hampshire This national survey of youth ages 10 to 17 and their caretakers has several implications for the current debate about young people and Internet pornography. Twenty-five percent of youth had unwanted exposure to sexual pictures on the Internet in the past year challenging the prevalent assumption that the problem is primarily about young people motivated to actively seek out pornography. Most youth had no negative reactions to their unwanted exposure but one quarter said they were very or extremely upset suggesting a priority need for more research on and interventions directed toward such negative effects. The use of filtering and blocking software was associated with a modest reduction in unwanted exposure suggesting that it may help but is far fromfoolproof. Various forms of parental supervision were not associated with any reduction in exposure. The authors urge that social scientific research be undertaken to inform this highly contentious public policy controversy. Keywords pornography victimization Internet adolescence AUTHORS NOTE Funding for this study was provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 98MC-CX-K002 . The authors also would like to thank members of the Family Violence Research Seminar at the University of New Hampshire for helpful comments. Please send reprint requests to Kimberly J. Mitchell . Crimes against Children Research Center University of New Hampshire 126 Horton Social Science Center Durham NH 03824-3586 phone 603-862-4533 fax 603-862-1122 e-mail . YOUTH SOCIETY Vol. 34 No. 3 March 2003 330-358 DOI 0044118X02250123 2003 Sage Publications 330 Mitchell et al. SEXUAL MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET 331 A large and acrimonious public debate is in progress about pornography children and the .