Taking Risks on the World Wide Web: The Impact of Families and Societies on Adolescents’ Risky Online Behavior

Abstract

Children’s engagement in risky online behavior—such as providing personal information or agreeing to meet with a stranger—is an important predictor of whether they will encounter harmful content on the World Wide Web or be confronted with situations such as sexual harassment and privacy violations. However, and in line with research on risk taking in general, most children are not heavily engaged in risky online activities. Nevertheless, the potential consequences of adolescents’ risky online behavior are a major concern among parents and policymakers. This chapter explores the effect of contextual factors on adolescents’ engagement in risky online behavior from a cross-national and comparative perspective. To do so, it uses EU Kids Online survey data and employs a hierarchical multilevel design. The general research question underlying the study is twofold: (1) Do differences in adolescents’ risky online behavior stem from differences in family characteristics, parental Internet mediation, and the prevalence of Internet use in a country? (2) Is the relation between parental mediation and children’s risky online behavior dependent on how widespread Internet use is in a country? In today’s globalized societies, Internet usage plays an increasingly important role within the home and in society as a whole. Answers to these questions will therefore be of great interest to parents, educators, and policymakers.