As more kids use mobile phones and surf the
web at increasingly younger ages, sexting and
Internet safety are becoming bigger childhood
health concerns, edging out longtime worries
like smoking and teen pregnancy, a new poll
suggests.
Internet safety rose to become the fourth most
commonly identified major problem in the 2015
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital national poll on
children's health, up from eighth the year
before, with 51 percent of adults this year
citing it as a top concern.
Sexting, meanwhile, was cited by 45 percent of
adults and advanced to number six on the list
of most pressing problems this year, from 13th
place in 2014.
"The public is well aware of the potential risks
to children and teens of Internet activities and
sexting, such as cyber-bullying and predatory
behaviour," poll director Dr. Matthew Davis of
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor said by
email.
"Children's use of the Internet continues to
grow, so it makes sense that growing use,
without much evidence of greater safety, would
lead to higher levels of public concern," he
added.
Childhood obesity , bullying and drug abuse
remained the top three concerns for the
second year in a row, according to the survey
of 1,982 adults age 18 and over conducted in
May.
Smoking and tobacco use, usually rated near
the top of the list, dropped from fourth to
seventh place, which may reflect a declining
number of children who have this habit, the
researchers note.
School violence ranked number eight, followed
by teen pregnancy and stress.
Many problems highlighted in the poll are
health issues without clear cures, where some
of the anxiety voiced by adults may be due to
uncertainty about the best prevention or
treatment options, Dr. Megan Moreno, of the
Centre for Child Health Behavior and
Development at Seattle Children's Hospital,
said by email.
Some common issues such as asthma or
diabetes may not make the list of top concerns
because doctors and parents have a good idea
how to address these conditions, said Moreno,
who wasn't involved in the poll. By contrast,
parents, educators and health providers are still
trying to determine the best approaches for
obesity and Internet safety.
"This uncertainty about best practices likely
compounds the worry that parents feel about
how to protect their kids," she said.
The top 10 health concerns in the poll also
highlight a need for parents to foster open
communication with children and teens and
monitor not just their comings and goings but
also their activities online, said Kathleen Davis,
director of pediatric palliative care and ethics
at the University of Kansas Hospital.
"Parents must take on a greater 'hands on'
approach to parenting, knowing what their child
is texting, emailing, snap chatting, facebooking
and blogging and with whom they are
communicating in those fashions," Davis, who
wasn't involved in the poll, said by email.
While the new technologies may seem alien,
the parenting strategies to deal with children's
online lives should be familiar, noted Lisa
Jones, of the Crimes Against Children
Research center at the University of New
Hampshire.
"Striking the right balance with controlling
technology use and access for children, or
monitoring their behaviour is something I think
we are still figuring out and will probably be an
ongoing process for parents, just like deciding
how much to control what children choose to
wear, who they can hang out with, and where
they can go on their own," Jones, who wasn't
involved in the poll, said by email.
"The key recommendation for parents is to
keep communication open," she said. "Make
sure your children feel comfortable coming to
talk to you when problems come up.
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