Objective: To provide initial data on relationship between children, pornography, and the Internet. Design: National cross-sectional survey. Eligible households identified through the Second National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. Interviews conducted via telephone. Subjects and Setting: continued

Objective: To provide initial data on relationship between children, pornography, and the Internet.

Design: National cross-sectional survey. Eligible households identified through the Second National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. Interviews conducted via telephone.

Subjects and Setting: Youth ages 10 - 17 (n = 1501). 796 boys, 705 girls. Mean age 14.14. 73% White, 10% Black, 8% Other. 20% from single parent households. 46% from households with annual income > $50,000.

Interventions: N/A

Outcome Measure(s): Telephone interview assessed unwanted exposure to sexual material (ever/never seeing sexual images while surfing the Web, Instant Messaging, or emailing); type of images; delinquency of the child; troubled youth (experiencing traumatic life events); frequency of Internet use; high risk online behavior (posting personal information, making inappropriate comments); and strength of parent-child relationship.

Results: 25% of frequent Internet users reported unwanted exposure to sexual images, mostly while surfing the Internet (73%). Those exposed to sexual images tended to be male and/or older (= age 15). Greater exposure occurred frequent Internet users and those participating in chat rooms, Internet email, or other high-risk behavior (talking to strangers online, harassing someone online, etc.). Troubled youth or those reporting physical/sexual abuse or depression more frequently reported unwanted exposure to sexual content. Of those exposed to sexual images, 57% told someone about it; of those, 39% told parents. The majority of parents interviewed (84%) thought adults should be extremely concerned about youth exposure to sexual material on the Internet and 33% of parents used Internet filtering/blocking software. Presence of such software seemed to decrease unwanted youth exposure to sexual material by 40%.

Conclusions: Children's exposure to online sexual material may be less involuntary than is currently recognized. Recommend future policy debates utilize similar scientific studies to determine actions. Suggest future studies test the efficacy of parental education, supervision, and adoption of filtering/blocking software under real world conditions. © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn