The Risks to which Adolescent Girls are Exposed Via the Internet in Jordan and the Protection Mechanisms used from the Perspective of Adolescent Girls and their Caregivers

Abstract

The current study investigated the risks to which adolescent girls are exposed on the Internet, and identified the protection mechanisms used from the point of view of the adolescent girls themselves and from the point of view of their caregivers. The study used the qualitative approach (topic analysis) by conducting four focus group discussions with adolescent girls aged (10-17).And four focus group discussions with caregivers, and the results showed some of the risks to which adolescent girls are exposed, represented by electronic violence (bullying, harassment), security risks (hacking accounts, sending inappropriate photos and videos, accessing the dark web, and some social risks such as isolation, imitating negative behavior, and weak Academic performance, in addition to some psychological risks such as spending long hours in front of devices, the results showed several options used by young women, such as activating some protection options in search engines and applications, reporting to service providers and informing their mother or older sister, avoiding opening links from unreliable sources, The options used by caregivers were to sit in a place visible to parents, avoid opening links from unreliable sources, prevent adolescent girls from accessing the Internet or owning devices, family awareness, and defining some rules of use. Future work should investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of such interventions to support adolescents' emotional health and prevent the escalation of unsafe Internet use.