Students’ Engagement in Risky Online Behaviour: The Comparison of Youth and Secondary Schools’

Abstract

Nowadaysadolescents use the Internet very often in their daily life activities what, according to the researchers, causes their engagement in risky online behaviour. Youth school’s students may be at greater risks online as they generally come from socially riskier or single-parent families. Thus, the purpose of this study is to find out if there are any differences between youth and secondary schools’ students’ engagement in risky online behaviours. Research method – cross-sectional survey with a questionnaire, created using a variety of risky online behaviour forms (e.g., communicates with unknown people; visit pornographic sites).The tendency to engage in any risky behaviour participants had to rate on the scale from 1 (never engage) to 6 (always engage). The participants also had to answer some demographical questions about their family, age, and gender. 195 students (105 female and 90 male; mean age - 14.8) have participated in the study. Results have shown that youth school’s students are more likely than secondary school’s students to post photos of age forbidden behaviour and to post rude, offensive comments. Students engagement in risky online behaviour is related to their age and time spent online: older and using the Internet more often students are more likely to engage in risky online behaviours. Thus, older students and students who spend more time on the Internet are more susceptible to online risks despite their social environment. More attention should be paid for youths risky online behaviour psychological interventions.