Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet

Compared to the 25 country average, more AU children go online at school (96% vs. 63%), at home (96% vs. 87%) and when ‘out and about’ (31% vs. 9%).

46% of AU kids go online in their bedroom or other private room and over two thirds (70%) at a friend’s house. More girls (56%) than boys (38%) can access the internet from their bedroom, while in Europe these numbers are equivalent.

Three in five AU children go online via a mobile device - 46% report handheld access to the internet (e.g. iPod Touch, iPhone or Blackberry) and an additional 14% access the internet via their mobile phone. The 25 country data is lower for handheld devices, 12%, and consequently a little higher for mobiles, 22%.

AU children (9-16) were, on average, a little under eight years old when they first used the internet, putting them amongst the youngest first-time-users in the 26 nation study.

76% of AU kids go online daily or almost daily, 22% use the internet once or twice a week, leaving just 2% who go online less often. In terms of frequency of use, higher figures are seen in Sweden, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Finland. Australia is eighth.

The average time spent online by AU 9-16 year olds is just over an hour and a half per day (99 minutes), higher than the 25 nation average (88 minutes).

Most Australian children report being able to bookmark websites, find information on how to use the internet safely and block messages, but only just over a third (37%) say they can change filter preferences.

Among younger Australian children there are some significant gaps in their safety skills which policy initiatives should address. Around one third of 11-12 year olds cannot block messages from people they don’t wish to hear from.

One in four (26%) of Australian 9-16 year olds say the statement “I know more about the internet than my parents” is ‘very true’ of them, four in ten (40%) say it is ‘a bit true’ and one third (34%, though 62% of 9-10 year olds) say it is ‘not true’ of them.

Australian children’s experience of spending ‘too much time’ on the internet is more common than the 25 country average. 55% say they have spent less time with family and friends than they should have because of time they spent on the internet, and almost half (49%) have tried unsuccessfully to spend less time on the internet.

Top activities are using the internet for schoolwork (86%), watching video clips (85%) playing games (78%), emailing (67%) and social networking (63%).

Creating content is less common than receiving it. Even so, while 85% have watched video clips online, almost half the cohort (45%) actively contribute their own media and distribute it to friends and family. Fewer AU children have spent time in a virtual world (16%), or blogged (9%), but their participation is a little higher than in most countries involved in the research.

Two thirds (65%) of Australian children who use the internet have their own SNS profile, a little more than the 25 nation average of 59%.

Only 29% of AU 9-10 year olds, but 59% of 11-12 year olds, have a SNS profile, suggesting that it is the start of secondary school, rather than the minimum age set by popular SNS providers, that triggers social networking activity.

AU children report substantially more SNS contacts than most EU kids, with 16% saying they have over 300, equal second with the UK to Greek children’s 20%. 63% of AU children have over 50 contacts, the highest percentage in all 26 nations studied.

Most AU SNS users have their profile set to private or partially private. Only 9% of Australian children make it public, much lower than the 26% across Europe.

29% of Australian 11-16 year olds (more boys than girls, more teens than younger children) say they are in communication with people they first met online, unconnected with their offline social networks.

In the past year fewer than one in four (24%) AU 9-16 year old internet users have looked for new friends on the internet, 21% have added contacts they don’t know face to face, and 10% have sent an image of themselves to someone not met face to face. Such figures are less than the 25 country average.

One reason for using the internet to look for new friends might be that just under half (46%) of AU 1116 year old internet users say they find it easier to be themselves online. Also, 47% talk about different things online than offline, and more than one in five (22%) talk about more private things online than when present with other people face to face.

30% of Australian children say they have been bothered or upset by something online in the past year: two and a half times the European average (12%) and more than any other of the 25 countries. The next four countries were Denmark (28%), Estonia (25%), Norway and Sweden (both 23%). 79% of AU children say that there are things on the internet could bother other children. The European average for this is 55%, but Denmark (94%), Spain (92%), Norway (89%) and Sweden (88%) all rate more on this scale than Australia.

By implication, one in five 9-16 year olds (21%) do not see the internet as problematic for children of their age. Younger AU children are least likely to be concerned that what’s on the internet might bother other children, but equally likely to have felt bothered themselves.

Parents seem a little less likely to see the internet as problematic for boys than for girls.

While 30% of AU 9-10 year olds say they’ve been bothered by something online, their parents are less likely to recognise this. 16% of these children’s parents say ‘something has bothered my child online’.

Among the next age group, 11-12 year olds, 30% also report that they have encountered something that bothered or upset them. 23% of their parents recognise this. The fact that the problematic exposure is established among 9-10 year olds indicates that the factors concerned pre-date the challenges of moving to high school.

More than two in five (44%) Australian 9-16 year olds say they have encountered sexual images in the past 12 months, whether online or offline. This is close to double the average of the other 25 countries, 23%. It is important to note that a wide range of images is included as ‘sexual’, reflecting the 9-16 year old interviewees. This finding does suggest that parents and teachers need to continue working to ensure children are not troubled by viewing unwanted or age inappropriate material.

28% of AU 11-16 year olds have seen sexual images online. 24% say they have seen online sexual images including nudity, 17% have seen someone’s genitals online, 16% (more teenagers than young children) have seen images of someone having sex, and 6% say they have seen violent sexual images. Once more, it is important to bear in mind the large age range of the children in interpreting this finding.

Regarding Australian children who have seen online sexual images, 49% of parents say their child has not seen this, while 38% recognise that they have and 14% say they don’t know.

As in other countries, 9-10 year olds are less likely to see sexual images online but are more likely to be bothered or upset by the experience if they do.

Overall, most children have not experienced sexual images online and, of those who have, most say they were not bothered or upset by the experience.

In relation to online bullying, 29% of AU children (19% across Europe) say they have been bullied, and 13% say this occurred on the internet. This is more than double the average for the 25 European nations (6%).

The most common form of bullying is nasty or hurtful messages sent to the child (7%), followed by messages being posted or passed on (4%) and other nasty things online (3%). 3% say they have been threatened online.

17% of Australian children say they have bullied others, though only 5% say they have bullied others online in the past 12 months.

15% of AU 11-16 year old internet users have received sexual messages (‘sexts’). This is an average result across the study, and most recipients are 15-16 years old. 4% of Australian children have sent sexts online, and the average EU figure is 3%. Sexts are more commonly associated with mobile phones than with internet use and are currently the subject of intensive research.

For example, Albury, K. and Crawford, K. (forthcoming, 2012). Sexting, consent and young people’s ethics: Beyond Megan’s story, Continuum: journal of media and cultural studies.

9% of AU 11-16 year olds have been sent a sexual message, 6% have been asked to talk about sexual acts with someone online, and 5% have seen others perform sexual acts in a message. 3% have been asked for a photo or video of their ‘private parts’.

34% of Australian children have had contact online with someone they have not met face to face (the 25 nation average is 30%).

5% of AU kids have gone to an offline meeting with someone they first met online. This is about half the European average, which is 9% across all countries.

Older teenagers (13-16 year olds) are much more likely than younger children to have online contact with someone they have not met face to face. They are also more likely to have gone on to meet them in person – though such instances are rare.

34% of AU 11-16 year olds have seen one or more type of potentially harmful user-generated content, ranking at 6 of 26 countries for this risk. 52% of 15-16 year old Australian girls report seeing such content. ‘Harmful content’ in this study takes into account the broad age range of the children and a diverse range of reasons for accessing material. For example, some older teenagers in the sample might have accessed drug-use sites to gain information about harm minimisation or to understand drug taking from a public health perspective. Others may access sexually explicit material to guide them in sexual ethics, identity, relationships and health.

Most common are hate messages (26%), followed by ways of hurting yourself (14%) and sites talking about drug experiences (12%). ‘Ways to be very thin’ are reported by 9%, while 4% have visited a suicide site.

17% of Australian children aged 11-16 report misuse of personal data, the second highest in 26 countries (after Estonia, 18%). The main reported misuse was when someone else used a child’s password or pretended to be them (13%). Some had had personal information used in a way they did not like (9%).

Most notably, the survey shows that parents and children in three in five AU families agree about parental mediation practices, although this is slightly lower than the EU average (about 70% agreement).

Two thirds of AU parents talk to their children about what they do on the internet (67%), making this, as in the other 25 countries generally, the most popular way to actively mediate children’s internet use.

AU parents report considerably more active mediation of younger girls’ use of the internet, and older boys’, including talking to them, staying nearby, encouraging them or sharing internet use. But about one in ten parents (9%) never do any of these things.

Helping when something is difficult to do or find (79%), suggesting how to use the internet safely (75%), and explaining why websites are good or bad (74%), are common strategies of AU parental safety mediation. Australia is ranked second (95%) of the 26 countries (after the Netherlands, 98%), in terms of children’s accounts of their parents’ active mediation.

91% of AU children say either that they are not allowed to do some of a list of online activities (disclose personal information, upload, download, etc.) or that restrictions apply. 99% of younger Australian children (9-12) report restrictive mediation.

Monitoring strategies are adopted by almost three in five (59%) AU parents, yet this is the least favoured mediation approach compared with safety guidance (94%), positive support (91%) and making rules about internet use (91%). Monitoring is least popular throughout the 26 nations.

35% of AU parents block or filter websites, and 36% track the websites their children visit, according to their children. Australia ranks at 6 out of 26 countries in this respect, higher than most European nations.

Both children and parents consider parental mediation helpful to some degree. Over two thirds of children (74%) say it helps a lot or a little.

86% of Australian parents are confident they can help their child a fair amount, or a lot, if something bothers their child online.

However, 47% of AU children think that parental mediation limits what they do online, with 14% saying that their activities are limited a lot.

Three quarters of AU children (75%) pay attention to parental mediation, this being above the 25 nation average (64%). However, 20% say they ignore their parents’ mediation ‘a little’ and 5% say ‘a lot’.

33% AU parents think it fairly or very likely that their child will experience something that bothers them online in the next six months.

18% of AU children (and 30% of 9-10 year olds) would like their parents to take more of an interest in their internet use, while 55% of parents think they should do more in relation to their child’s internet use.

97% of AU children say their teachers have been involved in at least one of the forms of active mediation asked about. This is substantially higher than the 25 nation average of 73%, and means that Australia leads a ranking of all 26 countries.

Friends are likely to mediate in a practical way, helping each other to do or find something when there is a difficulty (75%). When Australian children are bothered by something online, 37% say they have turned to a friend for help, but they are more likely to turn to a teacher (70%) or a parent (67%).

While 32% of AU children say they have received some guidance on safe internet use from their friends, 52% say they have also provided such advice. This is a high percentage, ranking Australia second out of 26 nations. However, most internet safety advice is received from teachers (83%), then parents (75%), then peers (32%): even though children in most European countries choose their parents as the first people to turn to for safety advice.

Other relatives (57%) are also important in providing advice to AU children on how to use the internet safely.

Australian parents receive internet safety advice first and foremost from family and friends, and their child’s school (both 58%), then the traditional media (42%) government (34%), internet service providers (32%), and websites (30%). In Australia, a higher percentage of parents is willing to acknowledge the sources of their information about internet safety (96%) than is the case in Europe (87%).

Almost all Australian parents say they want further information on internet safety. Only 1% (2% of parents of children aged 15-16) say they don’t want any more safety information.

Cognitive testing and pilot testing, to check thoroughly the children’s understandings of and reactions to the questions.

A detailed survey that questions children themselves, to gain a direct account of their online experiences.

Equivalent questions asked of each type of risk to compare risks, and online and offline dimensions.

Matched comparison questions to the parent who knows most about the child’s internet use.

Measures of mediating factors – psychological vulnerability, social support and safety practices.

Follow up questions to pursue how children respond to or cope with online risk.

The inclusion of the experiences of young children, aged 9-10 years (are often excluded from surveys).

As shown in Table 1, nearly all AU children who use the internet go online both at school or college (96%) and at home in a public room (87%). Additionally, 70% use it at a friend’s house, 45% in their bedroom, and 31% have mobile access.

Since Australian children on average can access the internet in about four different places, they clearly enjoy considerable flexibility as regards when and how they go online.

Compared to the European average, more Australian children go online at school (96% vs. 63%), in a public space in the home (87% vs. 62%) and when ‘out and about’ (31% vs. 9%), reflecting widespread adoption of mobile phones and handheld devices. Access in libraries is also higher in Australia (26% vs. 12%).

Australian children have about the same amount of access from the privacy of a bedroom (45% vs. 49%) as in Europe generally. Fewer Australian children use internet cafés (6% in the Australian vs.12% in Europe).

Figure 2 shows that, as in Europe, private use in the child’s bedroom is strongly differentiated by age. For younger children use is generally in a public room, while teenagers often have private access.

Unlike Europe, there are clear differences by gender with girls more likely to have bedroom access. Further, in Europe as a whole, the tendency is for children of higher SES to have more private access but this is not the case in Australia.

As shown in Table 2, Australian children’s use of the internet via private platforms (own laptop, mobile phone) is substantial. Private use is, it may be suggested, catching up with use via shared platforms (shared computer or laptop, television set).

Compared with the European average, Australian children are more likely to access the internet using a range of platforms, including: own laptop (31% vs. 24% in Europe); via the television (43% vs. 32%), and via a games console (51% vs. 26%).

Australian children are also more likely than children in Europe to go online via their mobiles phone (40% vs. 31%) or other handheld device (45% vs. 12%).

The average number of devices used is slightly higher in Australia than Europe (3.5 vs. 2.5).

Figure 3 shows gender difference in handheld access unusually favouring girls. There is significantly greater use in Australia than in Europe (64% girls and 55% boys in Australia, compared with 11% and 13% respectively across European countries).

The pattern of age differences is the same as in Europe generally, with greater use by older children.

The SES differences in going online via a handheld device are similar in Australia to those across Europe, but access is far more pervasive in Australia, with 60% of Australian children using a mobile/handheld device compared with 34% of European children.

Children across Europe are going online ever younger, with the average age of first use among 9-16 years old being nine years old. This varies by age group, with the youngest group saying they were seven, on average, when they first went online while 15-16 year olds say they were eleven on first use.

In Australia, children are on average a little under eight years old when they first use the internet, putting Australia amongst the ‘youngest first use’ countries in Europe, where children start to use the internet at a relatively early age.

76% go online daily or almost daily, 22% use it once or twice a week, leaving just 2% who go online less often than weekly.

Daily use is far more common among teenagers than younger children, with 99% of Australian 15-16 year olds saying they use the internet every day. There are no gender differences, but some small SES difference.

The average time spent online by Australian 9-16 year olds is a little over an hour and a half per day (99 minutes), higher than the 25 nation average (88 minutes).

Gender differences in time spent online are negligible, although there are SES differences.

The largest difference in time spent online is by age. The 15-16 year olds spend over two and a half hours per day online on average (151 minutes): this is over 2.5 times that of the youngest group. Australia 9-10 year olds spend 56 minutes per day online, on average.

Bookmarking websites, finding information on how to use the internet safely and blocking messages are skills that most Australian children have. Fewer (just over a third, 37%) claim to be able to change filter preferences.

On average, Australian children said they have 5.4 of the eight skills asked about, which is somewhat above the European average (of 4.2). Finland is the only European country to record an average of more skills per child than Australian kids.

Even so, among younger children there are some gaps in safety skills which could be addressed by policy initiatives. Around one third of 11-12 year olds cannot block messages from people they don’t wish to hear from.

On average, one in three AU 9-16 year olds (34%) say that the statement, “I know more about the internet than my parents,” is ‘very true’ of them, four in ten (40%) say it is ‘a bit true’ and just over a quarter (25%) say it is ‘not true’ of them.

There is a smaller gender difference in Australia than in Europe, with about as many boys as girls claiming this is ‘very true’: 33% AU girls and 34% AU boys, compared with 34% girls and 38% boys in the European research.

Unsurprisingly, the older the children the more confident they are that they know more than their parents – among 15-16 year olds, 95% say it’s ‘a bit’ or ‘very’ true that they know more than their parents. (This figure is 87% in Europe.) However, 62% of Australian 9-10 year olds say they do not know more about the internet than their parents, suggesting plenty of scope for parents to guide younger children in using the internet.

Children from lower SES homes are more confident that they know more about the internet than their parents, reflecting the same pattern found for European children.

Over half (55%) agree that they have spent less time with family and friends than they should have, because of time they spend on the internet (higher than the 35% European average).

Three in five (59%) say they have caught themselves surfing when they were not really interested, with over half (51%) feeling bothered when they could not go online: higher than the European average (42% and 33%, respectively).

Almost a half (49%) of AU kids say they have tried unsuccessfully to spend less time on the internet.

As in Europe, it is much less common to go without sleeping or eating because of internet use (21%).

Use of the internet for school work is the top online activity out of the 17 activities asked about - 86% of AU children use the internet for schoolwork, just above the 25 nation average (85%). This affirms the importance of incorporating the internet into educational contexts.

Watching video clips (85%) is the next most popular activity, followed by playing internet games (78%). In contrast, European kids rank playing games more highly (83%) followed by watching video clips (76%).

Other forms of engaging with user-generated content, such as visiting a social networking site profile are similar in Australia (63%) and in Europe (62%).

Australia ranks email as the fourth most important use, with two-thirds of children doing this (67%), while half use instant messaging (51%, sixth priority). Only 18% of AU Kids say they’ve visited a chatroom in the past month. In Europe, communicating with others is also important (e.g. email 61%, instant messaging, 62%, visiting chatrooms 23%). Interestingly, 30% of Australian children have used a webcam, equivalent to their European counterparts (31%).

Although creating content is generally less common than receiving content, Australian children do this more than in many other countries. More children have created a character, pet or avatar (26% in AU vs. 18% in Europe), while the same percentage (16% in AU and in Europe) have spent time in a virtual world. 19% of Australian kids have used a file sharing site (18% in Europe generally), and 9% have blogged (11% in Europe).

Comparatively few activities span the age range (for example, using the internet for school work, visiting a chatroom). Some activities increase substantially over the years (email, social networking, posting videos or music to share, instant messaging and downloading music or films). Some decrease: playing internet games, creating avatars.

Some participatory activities (e.g. writing a blog) and some that may be considered risky (e.g. using file sharing sites) attract few younger children.

Both across the 25 nations, and in Australia, gender differences are generally small (except that boys play games more), this marking a change from earlier research, where many activities were found to differentiate girls and boys.

However, it is the case that, among younger children (9-12 years), girls use email, instant messaging and social network sites more, and are more likely to post photos and videos and use a webcam than boys. On the other hand, boys are more likely to watch the news online, create an avatar and play computer games alone or with others than are girls.

Among teenagers (13-16 years), gender differences are still marked in relation to games, with boys playing more against the computer, and with others online, and using online news services. Girls are still more likely to email, to use instant messaging, to post photos, videos or music to share with others, and are almost three times more likely to say they blog.

It is perhaps surprising, since Australia is a comparatively wealthy country, and since its national language dominates the internet worldwide, that Australian children are not more satisfied with online provision. Given the huge array of content online in the English language, one might conclude that what is offered online should be very satisfactory for Australian kids. This is not the case in Australia, Ireland or the UK. In contrast, the children in Lithuania, Greece and Belgium are the most satisfied in the European study.

Nonetheless, 41% of AU children say it is ‘very true’ and 51% say it is ‘a bit true’ that there are lots of good things for them to do online; while 7% say the statement is ‘not true’. Australian children are, therefore, in line with most European children, for whom, on average, 90% (compared with 92% in AU) say it is ‘very true’ or ‘a bit true’ that there are lots of good things to do online.

Turning to the socio-demographic variables, Australian girls are less enthusiastic about online content (34% AU girls vs. 42% European girls answering ‘very true’), whereas Australian boys (48%) are slightly more positive than their counterparts in the 25 nation study (46%).

As in EU Kids Online generally, AU teenagers aged 15-16 years are especially positive. In Australia, as in Europe as a whole, there is little SES difference.

65% of children who use the internet in Australia have their own SNS profile, this being a little higher than the European average of 59%.

The older the child, the more likely they are to have profiles, rising to 92% of 15-16 year olds having an SNS profile.

Since many SNSs have a minimum age of 13, the findings for 9-10 year olds (Australia 29%; 26% in Europe) and especially 11-12 year olds (Australia 59%; 49% in Europe) seem high, suggesting that some give a false age when setting up a profile.

The rise in SNS profiles for 11-12 year olds also suggests, in an Australian context, that the peer expectation of social networking starts before secondary school.

More Australian girls than boys have profiles (68% vs. 63%): a bigger gap than in Europe (60% vs. 58%, respectively).

It is perhaps puzzling that children from the highest SES homes are less likely to have a profile, even if almost two in three have one (63%). In contrast, in the European sample as a whole, 4% points differentiate all three SES groups (57-61%). Closer examination suggests that for Australian children from high SES homes, there are significantly fewer ‘under-age’ users (9-12 years).

Despite popular media stories of children with hundreds of contacts, few European children report having more than 300 contacts on their social networking profile (9%), though one in five (20%) has between 100 and 300; and half have up to 50 contacts, 19% have fewer than 10.

Australian children report substantially more SNS contacts than in most of Europe, and more claim over 50 contacts than in any other country of the 26 compared. Among Australian SNS users, 16% report more than 300 contacts, 26% have between 100 and 300, 21% have between 51 and 100 and 24% have 11-50 contacts. Just 13% have fewer than ten contacts.

By contrast with many countries across Europe, Figure 10 shows that Australian SNS users are much more likely to have their profile set to private or partially private: 83% in Australia compared with 71% across the 25 European nations.

AU children are less likely to post their address or phone number (6%, compared with 14% in Europe).

AU children are much more likely to say they show an incorrect age (34% compared with the Europe average of 16%).

AU boys are more likely to have public settings (10% vs. 8% of girls), a much smaller prevalence but similar pattern to the European sample as a whole (where 30% boys v 23% girls use public settings).

Young teenagers (13-14) in Australia are least likely to have public settings (3%, compared to 25% in Europe). This rises to 12% for older children (15-16); while 12% (Australia) vs. 27% (Europe) have public profiles.

Australian children from low SES homes are the most likely to choose private settings; in Europe it is high SES kids that are private.

Roughly half (46%) 11-16 year old Australian internet users say they find it ‘easier to be myself’ on the internet, while 47% say they talk about different things. Slightly more than one in five children (22%) talk more about private things when online than is the case with face to face.

This is especially the case for 15-16 year olds, who appear to find the internet a particularly good place to talk about private matters.

Boys (51%) appear a little more likely than girls (42%) to find the internet a good place to be themselves.

As in Europe, most Australian children who communicate online are in touch with people they already know face to face (Australia 92%; 87% in Europe). Thus online communication relies on and complements the communication that occurs in everyday social networks.

Almost half Australian kids, 48% (whereas in Europe it is 39%), are in touch with people that they first met on the internet but with whom they have a connection through friends or family offline. These people form part of the child’s wider circle offline although the child may not have met them face to face.

Almost three in ten Australian 11-16 year olds (29%) say they communicate online with people whom they first met online and who have no connection with their offline social networks. It is these contacts, arguably, that we need to understand better in the context of risk and safety issues. Further, the number who experience this risk in Australia is greater than the European average of 25%.

Almost twice as many boys (37%) as girls (21%) communicate online with people whom they only know online. It may be that these are contacts sustained through online gaming (as shown earlier, gaming is the main online activity that distinguishes girls and boys).

Over nine in ten respondents in each age group communicate online with their existing offline social circle. But, like their European counterparts, as Australian children grow older they widen their social circle by also communicating with people online who are connected to their offline circle but whom, nonetheless, they first met on the internet: 40% of 1112 year olds, 45% of 13-14 year olds and 62% of 1516 year olds. These figures are higher than European averages, which are: 31% (11-12), 38% (13-14) and 47% (15-16) respectively.

The age differences in making new contacts online (i.e. with people who have no other connection with the child’s life) is similarly striking compared with Europe overall, especially in the youngest age range:

26% of AU 11-12 year olds vs. 19% (Europe);

27% of AU 13-14 year olds vs. 23% (Europe), and

34% of AU 15-16 year olds vs. 33% (Europe).

Whereas children from medium SES households in Australia are more likely to have an SNS profile, they are also more likely than other SES groupings to have diverse circles of online contacts, communicating with more people they meet on the internet who are unconnected with existing family and friends. In Europe, the higher the SES ranking, the more diverse the child’s online contacts.

The vast majority of AU children aged 9-16 say that in the past year they have not sent a photo or video of themselves (89%) or personal information (94%) to someone they have never met face to face. Nor have they pretended to be a different kind of person on the internet (94%).

These findings indicate that Australian children may be less risk-taking than the European average, where such activities are more common.

Four in five Australian kids (80%) say they have not added people to their friends’ list or address book that they have never met face to face, nor have three-quarters (76%) looked for new friends on the internet.

However, a minority of Australian children say they have done some of these things. One in four (24%) has looked for new friends on the internet, while almost two-thirds (of these one in four, i.e. 15% of 11-16 year olds) have done this more often than monthly. One in five (21%) Australian kids has added contacts they don’t know face to face, half of these more often than monthly.

Very few have sent images of themselves (10%), or personal information (6%), to people they haven’t met in person.

Do you think there are things on the internet that people about your age will be bothered by in any way?

In the past 12 months, have you seen or experienced something on the internet that has bothered you in some way?

Clearly, many children don’t see the internet as a completely safe environment. In Figure 13, more than three-quarters of Australian 9-16 year olds think that the internet bothers people their own age, the 79% figure is a much higher percentage than the 55% of children from the 25 nation study who say the same.

Australian children are over two and a half times more likely to say that in the past 12 months things on the internet bothered other children (79%) than they are to say that they have been personally bothered (30%). However, 30% is a high proportion of Australian children to have been bothered; the average finding from the European study is 12%. Possibly kids worry for each other; possibly it is easier to say ‘there are bad things out there’ than to say ‘it’s happened to me.’

Only one in five (21%) of Australian 9-16 year olds do not see the internet as problematic for children their age. Younger children are least likely to be concerned about other children (57%), though equally likely to have been bothered themselves (30%). Strikingly, in the 25 nation study, the likelihood of a child finding something on the internet that bothers them rises with age (Europe 9-10, 9%; Europe 11-12, 11%; Europe 1314, 12%; Europe 15-16, 15%): not so in Australia.

A higher proportion of Australian children say they have been bothered by something they have experienced online in the past 12 months than is the case in any European country. In ranked order, the next four countries are Denmark (28%), Estonia (25%), Norway and Sweden (both 23%). It is hard to determine how much the later survey (6 months) and the smaller sample (400 families, instead of 1,000) would have affected this.

Australian girls (37%) are significantly more likely than boys (22%) to say that something on the internet has bothered them. Parents mirror this gender difference, seeing the internet as more problematic for their daughters than their sons.

Even though 30% of 9-10 year olds say they’ve been bothered by something online, their parents are unlikely to recognise this. Only 16% of their parents say ‘yes, something has bothered my child online’.

Reported problems online are static at 30% for 910 year olds, 11-12 year olds, and 13-14 year olds while parents are more likely to report concerns over the 11-14 year old cohort (23%) than the 9-10 year olds (16%). Since Australian children usually start secondary school around 11, parents may assume that children are more likely to encounter problems online with greater internet use, or the influence of a new peer group encouraging risk-taking, or the onset of adolescence.

Over two in five (44%) Australian 9-16 year olds say they have seen sexual images in the past 12 months, whether online or offline. This is much greater than the 25 country average of 23%. In the European study, only Norwegian children (46%) would have seen more.

As in Europe, age matters. More older children have seen sexual images. In Australia the biggest jumps in exposure are between 9-10 and 11-12 (17% more report seeing sexual images in the older cohort) and between 13-14 and 15-16 (30%).

Gender differences are small, with Australian girls more likely than boys to have seen sexual images somewhere (45% vs. 42%); for Europe as a whole the likelihood is smaller, and 21% of girls say they have seen sexual images online or offline compared with 25% of boys.

Like the European average, Australian children from higher SES homes say they see sexual images more frequently, though unlike their European counterparts, children from medium SES households in Australia are least likely to see sexual images. (In Europe, likelihood rises with SES ranking.)

The internet is the most common source of sexual images for Australian children (28%), although 22% say they have seen sexual images on television. This is almost double the European average where the internet is also slightly more common than television (14%. vs. 12%).

With 28% of Australian children reporting that they have seen sexual images online, Australia would rank equal fourth in European terms, with Denmark and the Czech Republic (both 28%), while children in Norway are most likely to report this (34%), followed equally by Estonia (29%) and Finland (29%), just above Australia (28%).

Australian kids see more sexual images in magazines than their counterparts in Europe (12% vs. 7%).

Gender differences are striking and increase with age. Younger boys (9-12 years) have seen sexual images on websites, although girls are more likely to have seen them on television. By 13-16, Australian boys are more likely than girls to say they have seen sexual images across the board, on websites, on television, film and video/DVD, in magazines or books, by text/image etc on a mobile

This gender difference is partly explained by boys more often choosing the option ‘don’t know’ or ‘prefer not to say’.

24% of Australian 11-16 year olds say they have seen online sexual images including nudity; 17% have seen someone’s genitals online; 16% (mostly 15-16) have seen images of someone having sex; and 6% say they have seen violent sexual images. These figures are all higher than the 25 nation averages which are 11% for nudity; 8% for genitals; 8% for seeing someone having sex and 2% for violent sexual images.

In all categories of Table 7, the Australian findings are higher than the European findings, although broadly in line with other countries where children go online at a young average age, especially Scandinavian and Baltic countries.

Across Europe, among just those children who have seen sexual images online, one in three (35%) of their parents agree this has occurred, and this is broadly similar in Australia (38%). Just over one in eight (14%) of Australian parents say they don’t know whether their child has seen sexual images online and this contrasts with one in four (26%) of their European counterparts. Significantly, half (49%) the parents of Australian children who say they have seen sexual images on the internet say their child has not seen such images.

In Australia, parents are slightly less aware of their children’s experiences of online sexual images than in Europe generally. Among European children who have seen online sexual images, 40% of parents say their child has not seen such images (compared with 49% in Australia), while 35% recognise that they have (Australia 38%), and 26% (Australia 14%) say they don’t know (Table 8). Australian parents are more likely to be wrongly confident that their child has not seen sexual images online than is general in the other 25 countries.

Australian children’s responses are relatively high, compared with many European countries, in terms of overall exposure to online pornography (28%). Further, the percentage of Australian children who have been bothered by seeing such images (10%, i.e. over a third of those exposed) is also higher than the average for the 25 countries. This might be one of the factors contributing to the overall high number of Australian children that say they have been bothered by something on the internet (Section 5.1).

Australian boys are slightly more likely to have seen sexual images online (30% vs. 26%, girls), the same pattern as in Europe generally (where the percentages are 16% vs. 12%). Across all European countries, boys had seen more sexual images online but girls were generally more likely to be bothered by such experiences.

Seeing sexual images online is more common among teenagers than younger children. There are also more teenagers, especially those aged 13-14 years old, who report being bothered by this.

As in other countries, 9-10 year olds are less likely to see sexual images online but more likely to be bothered or upset by the experience if they do see them. In Australia 11% of 9-10 year olds had seen sexual images and almost all of these, a total 10% of Australian 9-10 year olds, reported feeling bothered.

While there are some SES differences in seeing these images, a higher proportion of children from lower SES homes are likely to be bothered by seeing sexual images online (as in Europe generally).

Three in five (29%) Australian children claim to have been bullied in the past year, according to the definition provided, with 7% bullied weekly (Figure 16).

Overall, bullying in Australia is fifty percent higher than across Europe (29% vs. 19%), though the European range is from 43% in Estonia, for having been bullied online or offline, to just 9% in Portugal.

The likelihood of online bullying in Australia is significantly more common than in the 25 countries: 13% (versus 6% in the study generally) have received a nasty or hurtful message online.

More Australian girls than boys claim to have been bullied (34% vs. 24%).

More 9-10 year olds say they have been bullied (35%), the least bullied being 13-14 year olds (21%). This differs from the European pattern, where older children are most likely to be bullied.

Children from lower SES homes in Australia claim to have been bullied most (44%), with those from medium SES homes the least (25%).

In Australia, face to face bullying is more common than online bullying (20% vs. 13%), while 3% have also been bullied by mobile phone.

Gender differences are much larger in the younger age group than the older one, with 9-12 year old girls more likely to be bullied than the boys.

Most common is messages sent to the child (7%), followed by messages being posted online or passed on (4%), and other hurtful things online (3%). 3% have been threatened using the internet.

Unlike the European findings, where15-16 year olds are most likely to encounter the various forms of online bullying, there is little difference in the Australian findings relating to the variety of online bullying behaviours affecting 11-12, 13-14 and 15-16 year olds.

Among the 13% of children who say they have been bullied online, most of their parents (58%) are aware of this, though one in three (33%) says this has not happened and 9% do not know.

By comparison with parental awareness of children’s exposure to online pornography, Australian parents seem more aware of when their child has been bullied online, in those cases where it has happened.

Figure 17 shows that, in Australia, 16-17% (subject to rounding) of children say they have bullied others. This is more than half as many as say they have been bullied (29%).

Bullying others (in general) is most common among the 15-16 year olds, and least common among 9-10 year olds, although 9-10 year olds are most likely to say they have been bullied.

Children from lower SES homes are most likely to say they bully others, and are also most likely to say they have been bullied.

13% said they are bullied online, less than the 16% who say they bully others, on or offline.

Some one in seven children in Australia (15%) have seen or received sexual messages online, 3% receiving them more than once a week (Figure 18). This is in line with the 25 nation figures.

In Australia, as in the European findings, there is no significant gender difference in receiving sexual messages.

15-16 year olds are more likely to receive sexual messages online than the younger age groups.

Seeing/receiving sexual messages online is more common (though still a minority practice) than is posting/sending such messages. Only a very small proportion of children – 4% of 11-16 year olds – say they have posted or sent a sexual message online in the past 12 months.

9% of Australian 11-16 year olds have been sent a sexual message, and 6% have been asked to talk about sexual acts with someone on the internet. 3-5% have experienced one of the following: seen others perform sexual acts in a message, been asked for a photo or video showing their private parts or seen a sexual message posted online where others could also see it.

The older the child, the more likely they are to have experienced sexting. The same patterns apply to the European data generally, although the figures are higher in Australia. For example, for 15-16 year old Australians, 18% have been sent a sexual message (Europe 11%); 15% of Australians have been asked to talk about sexual acts with someone online (Europe 3%); and 14% of Australians have seen images of other people performing sexual acts (Europe 8%).

In Table 13, among the 15% of Australian children who say they have seen or been sent sexual messages online, a minority of their parents (27%) are aware of this, while half (51%) say this has not happened. One in five (22%) does not know.

This level of parental awareness is a little higher than the European average, though findings are based on a subset of a smaller respondent population.

Across the European study, although 15% of children have seen or received a sexual message online, only 4% of children aged 11-16 both received sexts and were bothered by the experience. However, looked at differently, one quarter (25%) of the 15% who have received sexual messages were bothered by them.

In Australia, while 15% have seen or received such messages, a slightly lower percentage - 3% - have been bothered by them. To put it another way, 20% or one in five Australian children who receive sexual messages online are bothered or upset by the experience.

Figure 19 shows that Australian girls are more likely than boys to have been bothered by receiving sexual messages (4% vs. 2%), in line with the 25 nation findings.

The younger children, 11-12 year olds, are more likely to be bothered by these messages (as also indicated by the data from the larger study).

34% of Australian children have had contact online with someone they have not met face to face (the 25 nation average is 30%).

5% have gone to an offline meeting with someone first met online. This is about half the study average (which is 9% across all 25 countries). Indeed, as the pan-European report shows, children in the Baltic countries are most likely to have gone to an offline meeting with a contact first made online (25% in Estonia and 23% in Lithuania). Such offline meetings are comparatively uncommon in the UK and Portugal (each 5%), Italy and Ireland (each 4%), and least likely in Turkey (3%).

Older teenagers (13-16 year olds) are much more likely than younger children to have online contact with someone they have not met face to face. They are also more likely to have gone on to meet them in person – although such instances are rare.

Gender differences are minor, although girls (one in six, 5/28) are a little more likely to have gone on to meet someone than boys (one in eight, 5/39). This is contrary to the wider European pattern, although the age difference dimension is consistent with findings from the European study.

Children from lower SES homes in Australia are less likely to have made contact, but more likely to have gone on to meet face to face, a person they first met online.

The small sample size for meeting contacts offline means it is particularly difficult to extrapolate further valid information. Thus we note, as indicative only, that in most of the cases where a child has gone to such a meeting, parents seem unaware of this.

Overall, 34% of Australian 11-16 year olds have seen one or more type of potentially harmful user-generated content, rising to 52% of 14-16 year old girls. The overall Australian percentage (34%) is significantly higher than the percentage across the European study, where the average is 21%.

The most common potentially harmful content is hate messages (26%), followed by people discussing ways of physically harming or hurting themselves (14%), and sites talking about drug experiences (12%). The first three percentages are above the European average. Few (5%) have visited a suicide site. Sometimes such sites might assist in harm minimisation, or might be accessed by young people who seek to help friends.

Older Australian girls are generally twice as likely as Australian boys to have visited troubling user-generated content sites, except that older boys are more likely to have visited sites that discuss ways of committing suicide (7% of Australian boys 14-16 vs. 4% Australian girls). The figures for younger children also show some gender differences, although young children are generally less likely to visit such sites than older children.

The main misuse of personal data experienced by Australian children is when someone has used their password or pretended to be them (13%). Some have had personal information used in a way they did not like (9%). Findings are approximately double the 25 nation average, which are, in Europe: 7% (password), 4% (misuse) and 1% (cheated out of money).

Younger children have had these problems more than older children.

76% of Australian 9-16 year olds go online daily or almost daily, and the same holds true for 79% of their parents. Even so, this does not mean the samples match because the selection procedure ensured all children, but not necessarily their parents, used the internet. Around 82% of parents of 9-12 year olds (kids = 62%) and 75% of parents of 13-16 year olds (kids = 90%) use the internet daily or almost daily.

Although SES differences in whether children use the internet daily are small, they are substantially larger for their parents: 86% of high SES parents, but just 74% of medium and 49% of low SES parents use the internet every, or nearly every, day.

Most Australian parents talk to their children about what they do on the internet (67%), making this, as in Europe generally, the most popular way to actively mediate children’s internet use.

Second most popular mediation is staying nearby (63%), and third is encouraging the child to explore and learn things on the internet (44%). This and the other strategies are adopted by around two parents in five.

Overall, it seems there is a fair amount of general positive mediation taking place. These findings for Australia (91%) are a little higher than the 25 nation average (overall, 87% of European child respondents report one or more of these activities by parents).

Gender differences are often small in the European sample, and this is also the case with Australian kids, aged 9-12, although parents seems slightly more likely to say they sit with their son while he uses the internet. Apart from doing more shared activities online with both older boys and girls, Australian parents are more likely to mediate their teenage sons’ internet use.

For most strategies, as in the European study generally, parents carry out more active mediation of younger children’s use of the internet.

Notably, about one in ten parents (9%) never engage in any of these forms of mediation, according to their children.

In 20-31% of cases, parents claim a mediating practice that their child does not acknowledge (see third column). There could be a social desirability effect on the part of parents who wish to appear ‘good’. Or, parents may be more aware of practices that their children might not notice or might forget.

Interestingly, in 5-12% of cases, the child perceives parental mediation that the parent themselves does not report (second column). This may arise because children may wish to represent their parents as doing more than they do; or they may notice a practice that is so routine for the parent that it goes unnoticed.

Adding the percentages in the second and third column suggests that up to 40% of parents and children disagree about whether these different forms of mediation are taking place, depending on the strategy. Therefore, in about three homes in five, they agree. This ratio is a little less than that in the European study, where about seven in ten agree.

Active mediation by parents is highest for young children and reduces as children grow older: 93% of parents do one of more of the activities shown in Table 17 in relation to their 9-10 year olds, according to the child, dropping to 89% for 15-16 year olds.

Perhaps most notable is that even for the oldest group, almost 9 in 10 parents pursue some forms of active mediation with their teenagers.

There are few differences for sons and daughters, and differences by SES are also small.

The pan-European report found that, overall, levels of active mediation range from 98% of parents in the Netherlands who engage in one or more forms of active mediation, down to 73% in Turkey, according to children. At 91%, active mediation of internet use in Australia is similar to the level for many other countries.

Helping when something is difficult to do or find (79%), suggesting how to use the internet safely (75%) and explaining why websites are good or bad (74%), are all common strategies of safety mediation, used by three in four Australian parents.

Less than half of Australian parents suggest how their child should behave towards others online (44%), while 67% have helped their child if something online bothered them, and 64% have discussed with their child ways in which they can respond to things that might bother them online.

Parents and children generally agree with each other whether or not safety mediation occurs.

Parents and children disagree between about a quarter and a third of the time, depending on the strategy, with parents a little more likely to over-claim compared with their children.

There are few gender differences in parental safety mediation.

Parents mediate a little more for younger children and a bit less for older children.

Differences are small, but higher SES parents are more likely to say they engage in safety mediation.

Table 21 shows that parents impose most rules in relation to the child’s disclosure of personal information online: 89% of Australian children say that they are either not allowed to do this, or that restrictions apply (i.e. they can only do it with specific permission or under supervision from the parent).

Next most regulated activity is downloading material (63%) and uploading material (59%), though possibly this reflects rules in cases where photos or videos are of the children themselves. In the European study generally, 57% of children are restricting in their downloading activities.

Roughly one in two Australian children (49%) are restricted in their use of social networking sites, 47% are restricted in their use of instant messaging, and 39% experience rules around watching video clips.

Gender differences vary by type of mediation. They are relatively small for disclosing personal information but younger girls generally experience more rules than do younger boys, while teenage boys face more rules than teenage girls.

Across all areas of internet use, younger children face more parental restrictions.

Compared with the two types of active mediation discussed early, Table 22 shows that there is more agreement between parents and children about whether rules exist – 91% (i.e. 3% + 88%) – regarding rules related to giving out personal information, dropping to 75% in the case of watching video clips.

Compared with the various forms of active mediation (see Figure 21), the decline in restrictive mediation with age is more dramatic, falling from 100% for 9-10 year old Australian child respondents facing such rules, to 75% for 15-16 year olds.

The majority of Australian teenagers are expected to follow rules when using the internet. According to parents, girls are slightly more restricted than boys, but the difference is only 4%. There is very little difference by SES.

Looking across the 25 European countries the range of restrictions, according to the child, varies from 93% in Portugal and Ireland down to 54% in Lithuania – indicating that country differences in restrictive mediation are substantial.

At 91% Australia would be relatively high up this list, joint fourth with France and Cyprus, behind Germany (92%, third) and Ireland and Portugal (93%, first). Thus Australian parents are generally more likely than their counterparts in Europe to impose restrictions on their children’s internet use.

Monitoring strategies are adopted by almost three in five Australian parents, making this fairly common and yet the least favoured strategy by comparison with positive support, safety guidance or making rules about internet use (as in the European study generally).

Checking which websites children visit is the most common form of monitoring (53%) in Australia, perhaps reflecting the relative ease of doing this.

Checking social networking profiles (49%) or the friends who are added to those profiles (38%) is a little less common, though still more practised than actually checking the content of children’s messages.

Some gender and age differences are striking. Younger girls are monitored more than younger boys, apart from parents checking the contents of boys’ messages. Teenage boys are monitored more than teenage girls, except for the friends that girls add to their SNS profiles.

From Table 24, it can be seen that Australian parents and children are mostly in agreement about whether parents monitor what the child does on the internet. This applies both to things that parents are more likely to do (such as checking on which websites the children visit) and things that parents are unlikely to do (such as checking the messages in the children’s email or instant messaging account).

For the 21% of Australian parents who say they monitor their child’s SNS contacts when their child says they do not, it may be that children simply do not know what monitoring their parents undertake.

As with other mediation activities, parents are more likely than their children to claim that they do certain things, rather than their children saying that their parents do something that the parents themselves claim that they do not do.

Figure 24 reveals less monitoring of 9-10 year old Australians, a peak at 11-12 years, then a decline in monitoring as children grow older: 82% of the parents of 11-12 year olds say they use one or more forms of monitoring, but only 69% do so for 15-16 year olds.

Parents from lower SES homes are less likely to say they monitor their children.

The major form of technical intervention, occurring in more than three quarters of households (78%) does not relate to children’s safety concerns, but rather to security, being used to control spam and viruses (Table 25). This is the same pattern as in Europe.

Beyond this, use of technical tools is lower, especially by comparison with other parental mediation strategies. Still, over one third of Australian parents (35%) say they block or filter websites, and a similar proportion track the websites visited by their child (36%), as reported by children. Both of these percentages are higher than in Europe generally (28% and 24% respectively).

Younger children face more technical restrictions, apart from the use of software to prevent spam, junk mail and viruses.

It seems children and parents largely agree over whether parents use technical tools to mediate their children’s internet use (Table 26).

Parents claim to use controls to filter or block the sites their child can visit somewhat more than their children believe happens (45% vs. 35%).

Boys claim to have their internet use blocked or filtered slightly more than girls claim this (36% vs. 35%).

Apart from 9-10 year olds, filtering tools are used less for older children – and they are used by just under a quarter (23%) of parents of 15-16 year olds, according to their children (Figure 25).

Looking across the European study countries, UK parents top the rankings for their use of filtering technology. UK parents also filter more than Australian parents. According to parents, Australia (45%) would be third, after the UK (54%) and Ireland (48%). Australia would be sixth according to children (35%), behind the UK (46%), Ireland (41%), Turkey and France (both 38%) and the Netherlands (37%). The 25 nation average is 33% (according to parents; 45% in Australia) and 28% (according to children; 35% in Australia).

9-12 year olds are more positive about what their parents do, perhaps reflecting their relative lack of skills. For them, parental mediation may indeed be more helpful.

Parents in general are inclined to think their mediation is more helpful than their children think.

Table 28 shows that just over three quarters of Australian children (77%) think their parents know a lot or quite a bit about their child’s internet use, a slightly higher percentage than in the European study (68%), while only 2% claim that their parent knows nothing.

Younger children are more likely to think their parents know more, in line with the finding that parents of 1112 year olds mediate their experiences more than they do older children.

Girls are more inclined than boys to think that their parents know a lot.

Table 29 shows that the great majority of parents (86%) are confident about their role, feeling that they can help their child a lot, or a fair amount, if the latter encounters something that bothers them online.

Regardless of the child’s age, almost half of Australian parents (48%) are inclined to say they can help a lot.

Parents are also confident in their child’s ability to cope with things online that may bother them, with four fifths (80%) indicating that they have a lot or a fair amount of confidence in their child – this is more the case for parents of older children.

Figure 26 shows that almost one in two Australian children (47%) think that parental mediation limits what they do online; 14% say it limits their activities a lot.

As might be expected, given greater parental mediation, 11-12 year old children are more likely to say it limits them, while more 9-10 year olds believe that it limits them a lot. It is worth noting, however, that the opposite result might have been predicted, namely that teenagers would feel more restricted by parental activities than would younger children.

Boys are more inclined to think that mediation limits them a lot or a little compared to girls (52% vs. 40%).

Children in some countries feel rather more restricted by parental mediation (e.g. in Turkey [61%], Ireland [51%] and Bulgaria [51%]) than in others (e.g. Hungary [16%], and the Netherlands [24%]). At 47%, Australian children would rank at joint sixth (with Italy and Spain) in feeling limited by parental mediation.

Figure 27 shows that for many children, parental mediation is seen to have some effect. Three quarters of Australian children (75%) say they do not simply ignore it, which is some eleven percentage points higher than the European average (64%). However, 20% say they ignore their parents’ mediation efforts a little and 5% of Australian children say they ignore their parents’ mediation a lot.

15-16 year olds are most likely to say they ignore what their parents do or say about their internet use, 34% saying they ignore it a little.

Girls are less likely to claim they ignore their parents’ mediation, which is similar to the European pattern.

Figure 28 shows that only 14% of Australian parents claim that they mediate differently because of something that had bothered the child in the past. Just 8% of children give this as an explanation of their parent’s current mediation.

19% of Australian 11-12 year olds claimed that parents mediate differently because of a past event, and this may explain the increased rates of mediation evident in Figures 24 and 25.

High SES children are half as likely as other children to say their parent is doing something differently.

Looking at variation across the European study, 18% of children claim their parents mediate differently because of something that upset them in Estonia, compared with 3% in Hungary. Claims by parents reveal even greater national variation, from 29% in Turkey to 5% in Greece. Australia lies in the middle of the range, close to the 25 nation average of 6% (Australia is 8%) claimed by children; 15% by parents (Australia is 14%).

Table 30 suggests two thirds of Australian parents are confident (66%) that it is not very, or at all, likely that their child will encounter anything that bothers them online in the next six months.

However, 33% think it fairly, or very, likely that their child will experience something that bothers them online in the next six months.

There is a gender and age effect - the proportion of parents who think it is fairly or very likely that girls aged 9-12 may experience something that will bother them (41%) is higher than same-aged boys (31%), whereas their concern for older girls decreases in the ‘fairly likely’ category (31% declining to 21%), while other cohorts remain broadly equivalent.

The 25 nation findings indicate few age or gender differences.

Table 31 shows that for most Australian children (71%), and slightly more for teenagers, parents have got it about right, according to their children. These children think the level of parental interest in their online activities should stay the around same.

19% would like their parents to do a little or a lot more, however. On the other hand, some 10% would like their parents to do rather less.

These findings are broadly in line with the European study average.

18% of children would like their parents to take more of an interest in their internet use, while 55% of parents think that they should do more in relation to their child’s internet use.

9-10 year olds most want their parents to show more interest in their internet use (30%).

Gender differences are small. The lower the SES level, the more the children would like their parents to take more interest. This is in line with the European study pattern, where children from lower SES homes wish for more interest, and where there seems little difference between parents according to SES levels.

Country differences in children’s desire for more parental input are noteworthy, with children in Eastern and Southern Europe greatly wishing that their parents would show more interest in what they do online – especially Romania, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Spain and Bulgaria. By contrast, children in France, Denmark, and the Netherlands wish for little or no further input from their parents. Australian children are towards the top third of this ranking (joint seventh) in desiring more input from parents.

Parents take a different view, and their views show little relation to their children’s wishes. Thus parents in Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway, Greece and Turkey, think they should do more; while parents in Austria, the Netherlands and Germany are least likely to think this. At 55%, Australian parental desire to do more is a little higher than the European study average (53%).

97% of children say their teachers have done at least one of the forms of active mediation asked about. This is substantially higher than the European average of 73% and makes Australia top of a combined 26 country ranking for reported teacher mediation.

Over four in five AU children think their teachers have engaged with their internet use in terms of suggesting ways to use the internet safely (74%), helping them when something was difficult to find or do (79%) and explaining why some websites are good or bad (30%).

Over four fifths (83%) had talked to children about what to do if something bothered them, and over two thirds (70%) say their teachers have helped when something bothered them on the internet. As with other findings, this is substantially higher than the 24% reported by European study children overall.

Older children and younger children report equivalent mediation by teachers, indicating little further scope for mediation in Australian schools. This differs from Europe, where one in ten children who use the internet has received no guidance or advice from their teachers.

Almost three in four Australian children (74%) say their teachers talk to them about what they do on the internet, more for older children. This is better than in Europe, where 53% of kids say this.

Over four fifths (82%) of Australian children say their peers have helped or supported their internet use in at least one of the five ways asked about (Table 33).

As was found for teachers, this suggests that children do consider other children supportive in general, more so in the case of older children.

Friends are much more likely to mediate in a practical way, helping each other to do or find something when there is a difficulty (75%). Fewer say that friends help when they are bothered by something (37%), but this may reflect the fact that few are bothered. When children are bothered by something online, more turn to a teacher (70%) than to a parent (67%), or a friend (37%).

Compared with help from teachers, it seems that friends of Australian kids are much less likely to give safety (32% vs. 74%), or ethical, advice (33% vs. 75%).

Younger Australian boys report more peer mediation than do younger girls (80% vs. 76%), while older girls report more peer mediation than do older boys (88% vs. 83%).

Specifically, older Australian girls claim more than older boys that friends help when something on the internet has bothered them (56% vs. 29%); and explain why some websites are good or bad (47% girls vs. 40% boys); and suggest ways to behave towards other people online (43% girls vs. 38% boys). Older boys and girls are more or less equivalent in asking friends for help when something is difficult to do or find on the internet (boys 80% vs. girls 79%) and in asking friends to suggest ways to use the internet safely (boys 34% vs. girls 36%).

Figure 31 indicates that looking across age groups, and types of mediation, peer support is equivalent for boys and girls.

It reaffirms the finding that older children think their friends mediate more, the exception being the drop in mediation for 13-14 year olds.

While 32% of Australian children say they have received some guidance on safe internet use from their friends, 52% say that they have also provided such advice to their friends (Figure 32).

Australian girls report that they are more likely to help friends in this particular respect (55% vs. boys 48%).

Older children both help and are helped by friends in terms of suggesting how to be safe online, with a drop for 15-16 year olds. 13-14 year olds children say they support others more than they themselves benefit from such help.

Considerable national differences are evident in the degree of peer support reported. In a combined list of the 26 countries ordered in terms of children suggesting to their friends how to use the internet safely, Australia would come second (after Cyprus, 54%), with 52% saying they have provided help to friends. In the Netherlands (32%), Slovenia (31%), Belgium (29%), and France (28%), fewer than one in three children report helping friends. The differences are greater for children who say they receive advice from their friends on using the internet safely – 32% in Australia compared with 44% (average) across the 25 countries. Germany is highest at 73% vs. Netherlands lowest at 17%, and Australia is in bottom third at 32%.

It seems that, for Australian children, internet safety advice is received first from teachers (83%), then parents (75%), then peers (32%), whereas the 25 European countries generally have parents, then teachers, then peers.

While the order is the same for boys and girls, boys are less likely to say that other people have suggested ways to use the internet safely.

There is little difference between teachers and parents for the 9-10 year olds. Differences are more noticeable from ages 11-12 onwards, with parental influence waning for the 15-16 year olds.

There is little difference in relative support from teachers or parents according to SES ranking, although Australian peers from lower SES homes are more likely to support their friends (48% [low] vs. 33% [medium] vs. 29% [high]).

While in most of the 26 countries involved in this research parents give more advice, in the UK and Portugal, as in Australia, teachers give more safety advice; in Italy and Romania peers (after parents) give more advice than teachers; and in Germany it is peers who give the most advice.

Other relatives (57%) are important in providing advice to children on the safe use of the internet.

One in three Australian kids gets safety advice from traditional media (34%), more than from websites (19%).

22% of Australian children receive advice from online advisors, more than twice as many as in Europe (9%).

22% of Australian kids also get help from librarians. Rather fewer get advice from websites (19%), youth workers (or similar) or internet service providers (both 11%).

Older children get more advice from traditional media, youth/church/social workers, websites and internet service providers; younger ones use relatives and librarians.

Australian girls are more likely than boys to say they receive advice from other relatives and from traditional media, librarians and youth/church/social workers. Older girls receive more than older boys from librarians and from people whose job it is to give help over the internet, while older boys are more likely to turn to an internet service provider.

Interestingly, in Table 34, more than one in five children (22%) report that they have not received safety guidance from any of these sources, and younger children, especially boys, report receiving less advice than do teenagers.

These percentages are better than in the 25 European countries, where 34% of children report receiving no safety guidance from these sources.

Table 35 indicates that Australian parents receive internet safety advice first and foremost from family and friends, and from their child’s school (58%), then from traditional media (42%), government and local authorities (34%), internet service providers (32%), and websites (30%); while one in four (25%) say they get safety advice from their child.

Those with the youngest children (9-10 years) seem not to have a preferred source of safety advice. This is the age group where least mediation is practiced in Australia, with a jump in mediation in the 11-12 year olds, indicating a possible benefit for bolstering services targeting advice for parents of younger children.

About one in twenty parents (4%) reports getting no advice from any of these sources.

When asked where they would like to get advice from in the future (Table 36), the child’s school is the most popular choice for parents at 65%, with government and local authorities (55%), safety websites (47%), traditional media (44%) and internet service providers (43%) all coming before family and friends (37%).

Almost no Australian parents (1%) say they do not want further information on internet safety.