Boston: Fewer young Americans are receiving unwanted sexual advances over the Internet than five years ago, thanks to high-profile education and media campaigns, a survey released on Wednesday said.
The University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center surveyed 1,500 children between the ages of 10 and 17 and found that 13 per cent had received unwanted advances last year against 19 per cent in 2000.
The report, financed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children with a grant from the US Congress, also showed that aggressive solicitations - defined as solicitations involving off-line contact - held steady at about four per cent of all solicitations.
"It's a mixed report," said Ernie Allen, the national center's president. "The good news is that overall solicitations are down. The bad news is that aggressive solicitations are not."
He said the decline reflects the success of education campaigns aimed at warning children to avoid giving out personal information online and not engaging with strangers.
"Kids get it, and are being more careful," Allen said. Of the children who were solicited aggressively, about seven per cent actually met the people they corresponded with online, Allen said.
Comments
0 comment