**1. Introduction**

202 Complementary Pediatrics

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*Situation*, pp. 161-188

A dramatic increase in Internet use among young people in the past decade (Lenhart, 2009) has contributed to a heightened appreciation for the Internet's potential positive (Lenhart, 2009; Rideout, 2001; Ybarra & Suman, 2008) and negative impacts (Guan & Subrahmanyam, 2009; Juvonen & Gross, 2008; Katzer, Fetchenhauer, & Belschak, 2009; Li, 2006; Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2001, 2007; Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007; Slonje & Smith, 2008; Smith et al., 2008; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006; Ybarra, Diener-West, & Leaf, 2007a; Ybarra, Leaf, & Diener-West, 2004) on the health and development of youth. Internet harassment and bullying victimization have received particular research attention, and are consistently found to be associated with psychosocial problems including depressive symptoms, poor caregiver-child relationships, social and behavior problems, and substance use (Guan & Subrahmanyam, 2009; Juvonen & Gross, 2008; Katzer et al., 2009; Li, 2006; Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007; Slonje & Smith, 2008; Smith et al., 2008; Wolak et al., 2006; Ybarra et al., 2007a). Unwanted online sexual solicitation, defined as being asked to talk about sex, provide personal sexual information, or do something sexual when the youth does not want to when using the Internet, is another area of adolescent health concern. Online sexual solicitation has been associated with psychosocial challenges including depressive symptomatology (Mitchell et al., 2001, 2007; Ybarra et al., 2004).

Certainly, the Internet is but one environment in which youth must navigate. Victimization has been noted particularly at school, where youth spend a great deal of their time. Studies consistently report that victims of school bullying are significantly more likely to experience negative health and social consequences than non-bullied youth, including health problems, emotional and school adjustment problems, and poorer peer relationships (Due et al., 2005; Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Nansel et al., 2004; Sourander, Helstela, Helenius, & Piha, 2000). Unwanted sexual experiences in the schools is similarly associated with psychosocial problems, including alcohol use (Fineran & Bolen, 2006).

Many studies have reported relative rates of bullying online and offline (Juvonen & Gross, 2008; Katzer et al., 2009; Li, 2006; Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007; Slonje & Smith, 2008; Smith et al., 2008; Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009); most report bullying more commonly occurring in

Comparisons of Bully and Unwanted Sexual

less at Wave 3 versus 26% at Wave 1.

Youth and Household Demographic Characteristics

Annual household income

Sex

Race

**2.2 Measures** 

Thompson, 2000; Kaplowitz, Hadlock, & Levine, 2004).

**2.1 Sample** 

Experiences Online and Offline Among a National Sample of Youth 205

On average, adult surveys lasted 5-minutes and youth surveys 21 minutes. Youth received a \$20 gift certificate and caregivers a \$15 check for their participation at Waves 1 and 2; and \$25 and \$20, respectively at Wave 3. The surveys were administered by Harris Interactive.

Although parallel questions of bullying online and offline were added at Wave 2, it was not until Wave 3 that measures of perpetration and distress were added. To fully answer the research questions posed, the current analyses are restricted to Wave 3. The baseline survey response rate, 26%, was within the expected range of similar online surveys (Cook, Heath, &

To maximize data, respondents were invited to take part in the Wave 2 and Wave 3 surveys irrespective of their participation at previous Waves. Response rates were 76% and 73% of baseline participants at Wave 2 and Wave 3, respectively. Survey participants in subsequent Waves were similar to participants in Wave 1 and also to the national population (See table 1 below). For example, using weighted data, 49% of the sample was male at Wave 3, and 49% was male at Wave 1. Seventy-three percent identified as White race at Wave 3 and 71% at Wave 1. Twenty-five percent lived in a household with an annual income of \$35,000 or

> Wave 1 (n=1,577)

Female 51.0 (785) 50.3 (589) 50.8 (568) Male 49.0 (792) 49.7 (600) 49.2 (581) Age (mean) 12.6 13.7 14.5

Black or African American 13.6 (213) 12.5 (140) 13.6 (145) Mixed racial background 8.6 (113) 7.5 (80) 8.2 (84)

Hispanic ethnicity 18.1 (206) 16.7 (144) 16.6 (137)

Table 1. A comparison of demographic charactaeristics of respondents across waves

Respondents were asked about bullying *victimization* as well as *perpetration* using Olweus' definition of bullying (Olweus, 1994): "We say a young person is being bullied or harassed when someone else or a group of people **repeatedly** hits, kicks, threatens, or says nasty or unpleasant things to them. Another example is when no one ever talks to them. These things

White 71.3 (1155) 73.9 (900) 72.5 (855)

All other 6.5 (96) 6.1 (69) 5.7 (65)

<\$35,000 25.7 (399) 24.3 (251) 24.8 (241) \$35,000 - \$74,999 39.7 (685) 40.1 (525) 38.6 (490) \$75,000+ 34.6 (493) 35.6 (413) 36.7 (418)

Wave 2 (n=1,189)

% (n) % (n) % (n)

Wave 3 (n=1,149)

the schools. These studies use varying definitions for online and offline bullying and/or focus on regional or convenience samples. Furthermore, rates in non-school environments are not reported. Little has been reported in terms of bullying perpetration across environments also. Of note, Wang and colleagues (Wang et al., 2009) report that among 6- 10th graders nationally, 8% bully others online, 27% bully others socially, 37% bully verbally, and 13% bully others physically while at school. Online bullying is treated as a different *type* of bullying however; such that, for example, social bullying that occurs online is imperfectly measured. Importantly too, data are lacking about how the bullying *experience* may differ online versus offline. No data have been presented to compare relative rates of distress for bullying that occurs online versus offline. It also has been posited that a unique aspect of online bullying is the potential for anonymity; this assumes that all victims know their offline bullies. No research has examined however, whether this is a valid assumption.

Even less has been reported about unwanted sexual experiences online and offline. Ybarra and colleagues (Ybarra, Espelage, & Mitchell, 2007b) report overlaps in victimization for harassment and unwanted sexual experiences online; they do not report however, the relative rates of unwanted sexual experiences online and offline. To our knowledge, no other studies have reported relative rates of online and offline unwanted sexual solicitation in the general population of youth.

To address these gaps in the literature, we report data from the Growing up with Media study, a national survey of over 1,000 youth. Findings have implications for public policy initiatives as well as school and other community-based intervention efforts.
