17. Youth interaction with online strangers: experiences and reactions to unknown people on the Internet

Autor	ČERNÍKOVÁ Martina DĚDKOVÁ Lenka ŠMAHEL David
Organisation	Fakulta sociálních studií Masarykovy univerzity
Year	2018
Research type	paper in Journal
Annotation	In this qualitative study, we adopt a child-centred approach and focus on the children’s and adolescents’ experiences with unknown people from the Internet. This is one of the most pronounced parental concerns, despite the fact that an online presence is now normative for most children. We use the data from focus-groups and individual interviews in nine European countries (N = 368) conducted with youths between the ages of 9 and 16 years. Participants were asked about their perceptions of potentially negative or problematic situations while using the Internet and digital technology. Using thematic analysis, we classified youths’ experiences and reactions related to interacting with online strangers in four themes: (1) non-verbal interaction; (2) initiation of contact; (3) communication; and (4) face-to-face meeting. In all four levels of interactions, children and adolescents reported a variety of positive and negative experiences and reactions. We interpret our findings with a coconstruction model which perceives children and adolescents as active participants in the online world. We conclude that children are successfully making active decisions to initiate, continue, and stop interactions with unknown people from the Internet. These findings broaden the current perspectives of youths’ meetings with unknown people online.
Keywords	Online strangers, interaction with unknown people, co-construction model, online risks
Research type	unrepeated research, qualitative
Start date
End date
Obor	AN Psychology
Email	smahel@fss.muni.cz
Availability	available after payment
Link	http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1261169
Research location	Ne, po zaplacení
Organisation	Fakulta sociálních studií Masarykovy univerzity
Organisation web	fss.muni.cz
Possible connection