Published October 2020
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This factsheet presents findings from a study looking at New Zealand parents’, caregivers’ and whānau perceptions of children’s experiences of online risk and harm. Research suggests that parents tend to largely underestimate their child’s engagement in risky and/or hurtful behaviours as well as their experiences of harm online (see Byrne et al., 2014; Dehue et al., 2008; Symons et al., 2017). While helpful, the available international evidence is not only limited but also does not reflect the New Zealand context. In addition, understanding parental knowledge of the online experiences of children is important as parents play a critical role in helping their child to prevent or deal with bothering experiences and risky behaviours as well as providing children with emotional support when things go wrong online (Khurana et al., 2015; Livingstone et al., 2017; Pacheco & Melhuish, 2018a, 2018b). To help close the gap of New Zealand-based evidence on the topic, this factsheet presents findings from a quantitative study conducted by Netsafe with New Zealand parents and their children. The objectives of the study are to measure parental knowledge of children’s experiences of risks and harm online, and to compare parents’ level of awareness with their child’s self-reported experiences. (From the factsheet). Record #6926