Examining the Safety of Children Online Across Europe

The EU Kids Online Project is funded from 2009-2011 by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Programme.

The study provides important new evidence regarding European children’s and parents’ experiences and practices regarding risky and safer use of the internet and new online technologies. It will inform the promotion of a safer online environment across Europe, and be of broad interest to parents, policy makers, teachers, and all others involved in the care and support of children.

Key themes covered by the initial report include: 

• Children’s online usage and activities 
• Children’s exposure to online risks, including cyberbullying, pornography, sending or receiving sexual messages, and going to offline meetings with people first met online 
• Children’s perceptions of harm caused by online experiences 
• Children’s coping skills.

The executive summary and full report can be downloaded direct from the EU Kids website: www.eukidsonline.net The latest findings are released in Luxembourg at the Safer Internet Forum. An expanded version of the report, including policy recommendations and new findings on parental mediation, is due in November. Ipsos carried out the fieldwork, data processing and weighting for the study, among c1,000 children aged 9-16 and their parents in each of 25 countries across Europe. Initial findings are based on fieldwork conducted among a stratified random sample of families, conducted face to face in home during the period April – August 2010. Countries included in EU Kids Online are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.