More than a third (35.6pct) of teenagers have received unwanted sexual messages online, according to a survey conducted by World Vision Romania, Agerpres informs.

Almost two out of ten teenagers stated that they were asked, in the online environment, to engage in sexual interactions. Four out of ten (39pct) know young people their age who have been approached online with messages of a sexual nature. Also, 5pct of the Romanian teenagers were themselves threatened with the distribution of nude photos or such pictures were distributed to them, the same research reveals.

One in three teenagers (33.5pct) has a schoolmate or friend who was threatened with revenge pornography or to whom nude images were distributed without his consent.

More than seven in ten (71.5pct) have received private messages, friend requests or online comments from unknown adults.

Cyberbullying on teenagers mostly comes from strangers, say two thirds (67pct) of the students who answered the questionnaire.

And online aggression from well-known people is a widespread phenomenon, with 27pct of respondents saying that, most often, they were bullied online by neighbours, classmates or other more distant relatives.

Only six out of ten teenagers say they don’t care if someone is aggressive with them online. More than one in ten (11.6pct) feel sad in such a situation, and almost two in ten (18.6pct) are angry.

If a person is aggressive with them online, more than 63pct of teenagers say they will block the communication channels, and almost 29pct mention that they would not respond in any way. Approximately 6pct say they would „respond” with the same currency, World Vision Romania informs.

More than 72pct of teenagers say that they get information about cyberbullying from the Internet.

Almost three-quarters (73.8pct) of the teenagers who responded to the questionnaire conducted by the World Vision Romania Foundation come from rural areas, and the rest are from the cities (21.2pct) and county seat municipalities (5pct). As many as 76.4pct are high schoolers, 22pct go to the secondary school, and 1.6pct have recently finished high school.

In February, the foundation is carrying out the „LunaSiguranteiPeNet” (Internetsafetymonth) campaign for the second year regarding the risks in the online environment for teenagers.

Agerpres