Almost 60 Percent of Parents with Kids Aged 14 to 18 Reported Them Being Bullied

By Kiera Winter

I noticed that Homeschooling Teen shares information about cyberbullying, so I’d like to highlight something we’ve published. We surveyed 1,000 parents of children over the age of five and asked about their children’s cyberbullying experiences. Respondents answered the survey based on their experiences with their oldest child.

Here is what we found:

High school students were bullied the most of any age group, according to their parents. Almost 60 percent of parents with children aged 14 to 18 reported them being bullied. Middle school-age children weren’t far behind. Fifty-six percent of parents with children aged 11 to 13 also reported that their kids experienced bullying.

While the majority of bullying occurred in physical locations, bullying on digital platforms occurred in a wider variety of outlets. Nineteen percent of bullying was through social media, and 11 percent was through text messages. Online video games, internet sites other than social media, phone calls, and emails were also susceptible to bullying.

The more time children spend on social media, the higher their risk for cyberbullying. But the scary part is that a person doesn’t even need to have an account on social media to be a victim of cyberbullying. The spread of private information and harmful words on social media sites can be saved and spread in the “real world,” eventually making it back to the victims.

Cyberbullying can make it difficult for parents to intervene or protect their children from becoming digital victims. However, parents can’t depend on social media companies to step in and police themselves. It’s ultimately up to the parents to block or censor their kids’ feeds to minimize bullies’ ability to reach them. Parental monitoring software can help parents keep track of what their kids do on their phones and manage their activity accordingly.

This survey is based on parents’ perspectives. Therefore, they may not have knowledge of all their children’s internet activities. My hope is that our study helps parents realize the true scale of this issue and that the numbers serve to reinforce the importance of taking action.

Learn more about the study and methodology at this link: https://comparite.ch/bullying

Thanks,

Kiera

Comparitech – tech compared and reviewed