79% of US parents say their kids were never cyberbullied, University of Phoenix finds

A University of Phoenix study of US adults found that 60 percent acknowledge that cyberbullying has become more frequent recently, but when it comes to their own kids they are still unaware or not empathetic enough. As many as 79 percent claim their kids have not experienced cyberbullying behavior, which comes as no surprise.

Bitdefender found that 29 percent of bullied teenagers chose not to tell their parents, 28 percent didn’t open up to anyone about their feelings and 26 percent only mentioned it to a friend. Teenagers don’t communicate with adults about cyberbullying because they are not taken seriously and some parents tend to give little weight to the situation.

Three out of 10 teenagers say they were victims of cyberbullying or some form of harassment, while five out of 10 have friends who were bullied online, shows the same Bitdefender survey on US teenagers. Although bullying make teens feel diffident / insecure (45%), sad (45%), depressed (40%) and strange / odd (35%), only half of teenagers say they talked with their parents about cyberbullying.

Because it’s usually pre-teens (12 – 13 years old) who are more open to speaking with their parents or teachers after being bullied, a number of schools and anti-cyberbullying organizations have been working on spreading awareness about the phenomenon to other age segments, school staff and parents.

Feeling overwhelmed, teenagers can’t always deal with the situation by themselves, so they resort to different coping mechanisms such as alcohol, drugs, scarring or worse. Research found that “suicide remains among the leading causes of death of children under 14.  In most cases, the young people die from hanging.” While the American Association of Suicidology says that “suicide rates among 10 to 14-year-olds have grown more than 50 percent over the last three decades.”

Even if they act like they don’t need it, teenagers are in desperate need of advice and help. Parents should work on keeping a close and open communication with their children about online risks and cyberbullying before they become very active on social media. Security solutions that provide parental control can increase the chances of avoiding online attacks and harassment, but it’s better to educate children about the threats they are exposed to online and how to react to them.