Children's exposure to sexually explicit content: Parents’ awareness, attitudes and actions
Parents are key players in relation to the online safety of their children. However, while evidence shows that New Zealand teens regard their parents as the first line of support in dealing with online risks and challenges, parents seem to underestimate or be unaware of the frequency of such risks. This report presents findings from a larger quantitative study about parenting, digital technologies and online risks. It focuses on parents and caregivers’ awareness and attitudes towards their child’s access and exposure to sexually explicit content, both deliberately and/or accidentally, in the prior year. We conducted a quantitative survey with parents/whānau (and caregivers) of children aged 9 to 17 years old. The study was conducted in New Zealand based on a nationally representative sample. Our findings show that parents’ main online concerns are their children sharing nudes of themselves, being treated in a hurtful way, and seeing sexually explicit content. Also, the study found that 1 in 5 parents said their children were exposed to sexually explicit content online in the prior year.