Digital uses, victimization and online aggression: a comparative study between primary school and lower secondary school students in France.
Résumé
With the growing use of electronic communication among children and
adolescents, the Internet has become an important tool for their socialization and
has opened up new perspectives for network and community building opportunities.
However, the Internet and electronic communication tools can be used either positively
or negatively and the spread of its use in these recent years has led to online
risky behaviours and harm. This questionnaire survey was completed in five primary
schools and seven lower secondary schools in the South of France. It sets out to
assess the digital uses, risk taking and negative experiences online among primary and
secondary school students in France (N=4200). Findings show that primary school
students are pretty well involved in digital communication since they spend an
average of 150 min per day online vs. 190 for secondary school participants. Social
networking is also part of their lives with 17 % of primary school children and 50 %
secondary school students who use Facebook. In terms of risk taking, only 49 % of
primary students and 39 % of secondary school students report they personally know
all their online friends. Cyberbullying figures show that quite a few respondents have
been affected with negative experiences among which some were repeatedly victimized
(14 % in primary schools and 5 % in secondary schools). These findings
highlight the necessity to take the issue of educating towards a positive and safe
use of the Internet seriously and that primary school children also need to be provided
with proper guidance towards a safer Interne