PROTOCOL: Prevention and intervention of cyber abuse targeting children and adolescents: A systematic review to evaluate current approaches

Abstract

Background for the Review Definition of Cyber Abuse The rapid growth of electronic and computer based communication and information sharing during the last decade has changed individuals’ social interactions, learning strategies and choice of entertainment. The Internet has created a new communication tool, particularly for young people whose use of e-mail, websites, instant messaging, web cams, chat rooms, social networking sites and text messaging is exploding worldwide. While a smaller proportion of youth Internet users received unwanted sexual solicitations in 2005 (13 percent) than 2000 (19 percent), the number of youth Internet users receiving aggressive sexual solicitations – in which sexual solicitors made or attempted to make offline contact with youth – remained the same. According to this conceptual framework, cyber abuse does not reside solely with the child who is exposed to cyber abuse or who is victimized, but unfolds in the social context of the peer group, the classroom, the school, the family and the larger community and society as a whole.