Children face more and more online risks, and parents’ concerns about their children’s online safety have also increased. This is one of the findings of the 2022 Youth Media Protection Index project.
For the second time, the HBI and the JFF – Institute for Media Education in Research and Practice have published a Youth Media Protection Index. In 2017, they examined parents’ concerns about their children’s online activities and the extent to which protection is reflected in parents’ and adolescents’ attitudes, skills, and actions.
The empirical basis of the ‘Youth Media Protection Index 2022’ is a nationwide representative survey of young people aged between nine and 16 who use the internet and one parent each who is responsible for their online education or who is most familiar with their child’s online use. A total of 805 adolescents and their parents were interviewed between March and May 2022. Data collection was carried out by GIM – Market and Social Research. The study was initiated and financed by the German Association of Voluntary Self-Regulation of Multimedia Service Providers (FSM).
Findings
77 percent of parents in Germany are concerned that their child will have a negative experience online. Among adolescents, the figure is only 44 percent. While parents are particularly concerned about their children being in contact with strangers or disturbing content, children and adolescents are most worried about the behavior of other adolescents.
Although parents are more concerned now than they were five years ago, they are less active in educating their children about media. They seem to have difficulty striking the right balance between protecting their children and enabling them to use media.
Only a few parents and adolescents know about support services as well as complaint and reporting offices and make use of them. Overall, parental knowledge about support services and hotlines has actually decreased compared to 2017. However, 60 percent of children and adolescents say they know who they would turn to if they had a negative online experience.
Download the complete Youth Media Protection Index 2022 (in German)
Download the summary of the findings (in English)
Download the presentation of the findings (in English)
Further Publications on the Project
Gebel, C.; Lampert, C. (2023): Jugendmedienschutzindex 2022. Online-Risiken und Jugendmedienschutz aus der Perspektive von Eltern und 9- bis 16-Jährigen [Youth Media Protection Index 2022. Online Risks and Youth Media Protection from the Perspective of Parents and 9- to 16-Year-Olds]. In: medien + erziehung, Jg. 67, issue 4, pp. 68-73.
Gebel, C.; Lampert, C. (2023): Wie sehen Eltern und Heranwachsende Online-Risiken und den Jugendmedienschutz? Der Jugendmedienschutzindex 2022 [How Do Parents and Adolescents View Online Risks and Youth Media Protection? The Youth Media Protection Index 2022]. In: Kinder- und Jugendschutz in Wissenschaft und Praxis (KJug), issuse 1/2023, pp. 29-31.
