Parents Inadvertently Increasing Cyber Bullying Risk: New education research, carried out with 2000 11-17 year olds and 2000 parents with a child under 18, has found that more than a third of teenagers have undergone some form of cyber-bullying in the last year. The proportion of bullied teens, which stood at 35% this year, has more than doubled – rising from 16% in 2013.

Parents Inadvertently Increasing Cyber Bulling Risk, Says Research

In addition to those who reported being bullied themselves, two fifths (40%) reported having seen others being picked on online, again representing an almost two-fold rise on the previous year’s figures.

The research, carried out by McAfee, also found that a large number of teenagers (including those aged 15 or younger) are utilising online picture and messaging service SnapChat, as well as the well-known Tinder dating app, on a daily basis. Indeed, almost a fifth (17%) of those polled said they used Tinder every day, with half of these (46%) being under the age of 15. Girls (20%) were more likely to use it than boys (15%).

The research discovered that in some cases, parents had actually helped their children to set up profiles, prompting fears that those responsible for children were unaware of the potential dangers of the apps. One percent of parents admitted helping their children set up Tinder profiles, whilst a tenth (9%) assisted them in joining SnapChat.

This is supported by further findings from the survey, which demonstrate that only a quarter (27%) of parents were worried about their children becoming a victim of cyber-bullying. Whilst the figure for the number of children reporting being bullied has doubled, the figure for parents who are worried about it has actually halved (down from 45% in 2013). Furthermore, two in three children (67%) are now allowed to go online without parental supervision – rising from 53% in the previous year.

One potential reason for this is that parents have placed more emphasis on discussing online safety with their children this year – with more than three in four (77%) having talked to their children about being safe on the internet, a rise from 68% last year.

A separate report released by the Health Select Committee stated that evidence suggested a direct link between inappropriate online content, cyber-bullying and sexting and increasing mental health problems among children.