SECTION 2: A DETAILED EXAMINATION OF EXPOSURE TO VIOLENT CONTENT ON THE INTERNET
Given the survey’s focus on violence and new media, we included survey questions that examined violent exposures on the Internet (i.e., online) specifically. Questions were based on those included in the first Youth Internet Safety Survey.12 We asked youth, in the last 12 months, if they had gone to or seen the following six types of websites:
- A “hate” site. A “hate” site is one that tells you to hate a group of people because of who they are, how they look, or what they believe
- A website that shows pictures of dead people or people dying. Some people call these “snuff” sites
- A website that shows satanic rituals, like devil worship or Satan worship
- A website, including news-related sites, that shows pictures of war, death, “terrorism”
- A website (that’s not an online game) that shows cartoons, like stick people or animals, being beat up, hurt, or killed
It should be noted that this is not necessarily an exhaustive list of violence that youth might come across online; nor are all of these sites necessarily violent. As one participant pointed out, satanic sites are not always violent, whereas Christian sites can show extremely violent pictures (e.g., of abortion). As such, it is important to appreciate the ambiguity that exists in this list.
In our pre-survey development focus groups, it became clear that some youth were not familiar with some of these websites. To measure this, we included two negative response options: one indicating that the respondent knew what the website was, but had never been to one; and one indicating that the respondent did not know what the website was.
Very few youth (2-4%) reported that they visited a violent hate, death, or satanic ritual site in the past 12 months.
| Seen this type of violent website in the past 12 months… | Wave 2 (n = 1,581) |
Wave 2 (n = 1,195) |
Wave 3 (n =1,150) |
| Hate site | |||
| No, don’t know what this is | 57% | 48% | 41% |
| No, heard of it but never been to one | 41% | 50% | 56% |
| Yes | 3% | 2% | 3% |
| Death site | |||
| No, don’t know what this is | 66% | 57% | 52% |
| No, heard of it but never been to one | 30% | 39% | 44% |
| Yes | 4% | 3% | 4% |
| Satanic ritual site | |||
| No, don’t know what this is | 57% | 50% | 42% |
| No, heard of it but never been to one | 40% | 47% | 56% |
| Yes | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Site showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” (including news sites) | |||
| No, don’t know what this is | 32% | 30% | 28% |
| No, heard of it but never been to one | 47% | 48% | 48% |
| Yes | 21% | 22% | 24% |
| Violent cartoon site | |||
| No, don’t know what this is | 44% | 39% | 41% |
| No, heard of it but never been to one | 37% | 45% | 45% |
| Yes | 19% | 16% | 14% |
The most common type of online violence exposure was to websites showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” (21-24%). Close behind these exposure rates however, were those noted for cartoon websites (14-19%). The percentage of youth who reported visiting websites with violent content did not change across the three waves. In fact, prevalence rates for exposure to hate sites, death sites, and satanic ritual sites were almost exactly the same across wave, even though youth were getting older and potentially more curious and exploratory over time.
There was a persistent percentage of youth who indicated they did not know what the websites were even at Wave 3 after we had described the sites in each of the two previous waves. Indeed, once age was taken into account, the percentage of youth who said they did not know what the website in question was, was quite stable over time (see Figure above as an example).
Of youth who visited a violent website in the past 12 months, biological sex differences were most apparent for violent cartoon sites.
| Any exposure in past 12 months | Type of website showing violent content by biological sex | ||||
| Hatesite | Death site | Satanic ritual site | Site showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” | Violent cartoon site | |
| Wave 1 | |||||
| Male (n=794) | 1% | 5% | 2% | 23% | 25% |
| Female (n=787) | 4% | 4% | 2% | 20% | 14% |
| Wave 2 | |||||
| Male (n=604) | 2% | 3% | 2% | 25% | 23% |
| Female (n=591) | 2% | 3% | 3% | 20% | 10% |
| Wave 3 | |||||
| Male (n=582) | 4% | 5% | 2% | 26% | 21% |
| Female (n=568) | 3% | 3% | 2% | 22% | 8% |
Nearly 1 of every 4 boys said they had visited a violent cartoon site compared to 1 of every 10 girls. Boys also were more likely to report visiting sites showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” compared to girls, but the differences were slight. Rates of exposure to hate, death, and satanic ritual sites were similar however, for boys and girls.
Over half of youth who had been to a hate site in the past 12 months learned about the site from a friend.
| Hate site characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 40) |
Wave 2 (n = 29) |
Wave 3 (n = 45) |
| Learned about hate site by… | |||
| A friend told me about it | 60% | 55% | 63% |
| Typed in website address to see what came up | 40% | 33% | 2% |
| Used a search engine | 24% | 9% | 7% |
| Clicked on link from other websites | 19% | 32% | 13% |
| Email link from other people | 17% | 23% | 8% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 14% | 3% | 2% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 11% | 6% | 9% |
| Pop-up ad | 12% | 17% | 1% |
| Some other way | 11% | 26% | 12% |
| Online newsgroup | 8% | 16% | 6% |
| A family member | 5% | 3% | 7% |
For each type of website, youth who had been to that type of site in the past 12 months were asked: 1) how they learned about that type of site, and 2) how often they visited that type of site.
In addition to friends, a large percentage of youth also learned about hate sites from a typed website address (although this had the most significant decrease across time from 44% at Wave 1 to 2% Wave 3).
| How often visit hate site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 40) |
Wave 2 (n = 29) |
Wave 3 (n = 45) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 1% | 2% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 5% | 0% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 4% | 14% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 90% | 84% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 2% | 1% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 0% | 13% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 20% | 17% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 78% | 68% |
The vast majority of youth who visited hate sites did so infrequently. This changed over time, however, such that 1 of every 3 youth reported going to hate sites monthly or more often by Wave 3. This change could be an artifact of a modification of wording over time (i.e., typical month versus past year); but data in Wave 2 suggest that responses are quite similar for both wordings.
About 3 of every 4 youth who had been to a dead people site in the last 12 months learned about the site from a friend.
| Death site characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 67) |
Wave 2 (n = 42) |
Wave 3 (n = 43) |
| Learned about death site by… | |||
| A friend told me about it | 76% | 73% | 75% |
| Clicked on link from other websites | 27% | 24% | 34% |
| Pop-up ad | 26% | 5% | 22% |
| Email link from other people | 25% | 32% | 30% |
| Typed in website address to see what came up | 17% | 18% | 20% |
| Used a search engine | 17% | 26% | 26% |
| A family member | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 14% | 5% | 16% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 10% | 3% | 15% |
| Some other way | 10% | 1% | 13% |
| Online newsgroup | 8% | 6% | 13% |
Other common ways to learn about death websites included pop-up advertisements, clicking on a link from another website, or clicking on a link in an email from another person.
| How often visit death site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 67) |
Wave 2 (n = 42) |
Wave 3 (n = 43) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 4% | 2% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 10% | 2% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 17% | 8% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 70% | 87% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 2% | 4% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 0% | 13% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 6% | 19% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 91% | 63% |
Thirty-one percent of youth who visited “death sites” showing people dead or dying did so at least once or twice in a typical month at Wave 1, compared to 12% at Wave 2. At Wave 2, 8% of exposed youth reported going to death sites at least once or twice a month in the past year; as did 36% at Wave 3. Again here, youth responses to a ‘typical month’ were similar to those elicited for the ‘past year’.
Most youth who had been to a satanic site in the past 12 months learned about the site from a friend.
| Satanic site characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 38) |
Wave 2 (n = 31) |
Wave 3 (n = 25) |
| Learned about satanic site by… | |||
| A friend told me about it | 37% | 26% | 34% |
| Email link from other people | 29% | 26% | 8% |
| Some other way | 20% | 20% | 22% |
| Clicked on link from other websites | 21% | 8% | 30% |
| Typed in website address to see what came up | 20% | 19% | 52% |
| Pop-up ad | 13% | 11% | 9% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 9% | 5% | 8% |
| Used a search engine | 7% | 18% | 21% |
| Online newsgroup | 6% | 4% | 10% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 5% | 20% | 25% |
| A family member | 2% | 0% | 1% |
Unlike hate and death sites, sources for satanic sites shifted across time. Friends were the most frequent way to learn about satanic sites, but were much less common than as reported for hate and death sites. Email links from other people were common in Waves 1 and 2, but clicking on a link from another website was more common in Wave 3. Also of interest, more youth in Waves 1 and 2 said they found out about the satanic site ‘some other way’ than was reported for hate and death sites.
| How often visit satanic site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 38) |
Wave 2 (n = 31) |
Wave 3 (n = 25) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 4% | 8% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 8% | 3% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 10% | 2% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 77% | 87% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 8% | 1% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 1% | 9% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 3% | 20% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 88% | 69% |
Similar to hate and death sites, few youth visited satanic sites frequently (see Table above). This shifted in Wave 3, again similar to hate and death sites, with almost one in three youth who visited satanic sites reported going to them monthly or more often.
Youth who had gone to sites showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” (including news sites) in the past 12 months learned about the sites from a variety of sources.
| Site showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” characteristics | Wave 1 (n=367) | Wave 2 (n=280) | Wave 3 (n=299) |
| Learned about site showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” by… | |||
| Clicked on link from other websites | 28% | 13% | 21% |
| A family member | 28% | 24% | 20% |
| Some other way | 24% | 25% | 21% |
| A friend told me about it | 22% | 19% | 28% |
| Online newsgroup | 20% | 15% | 16% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 18% | 19% | 15% |
| Used a search engine | 15% | 21% | 20% |
| Email link from other people | 13% | 9% | 8% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 10% | 5% | 7% |
| Typed in website address to see what came up | 9% | 6% | 7% |
| Pop-up ad | 9% | 7% | 9% |
Unlike other types of violent media, most youth did not learn about sites showing war, death, or “terrorism” (including news sites) from a friend, except at Wave 3 (28%). Instead, the most common sources in Wave 1 were clicking on a link from another site, and learning about the news site from a family member (both 28%). At Wave 2, most youth learned about this type of news site some other way (25%).
| How often visit news-related site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 367) |
Wave 2 (n = 280) |
Wave 3 (n = 299) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 4% | 5% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 15% | 15% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 18% | 21% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 63% | 59% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 4% | 4% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 11% | 13% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 22% | 22% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 63% | 62% |
Compared to other types of websites, it was much more common for youth to report visiting sites showing pictures of war, death, and “terrorism” monthly or more often. Frequency of exposure tended to be stable over time (see Table above).
Youth who had gone to a violent cartoon site in the past 12 months most commonly learned about the site from their friends.
| Cartoon site characteristics | Wave 1 (n = 333) |
Wave 2 (n = 211) |
Wave 3 (n = 172) |
| Learned about cartoon site by… | |||
| A friend told me about it | 63% | 68% | 60% |
| Clicked on link from other websites | 25% | 20% | 25% |
| A family member | 21% | 13% | 11% |
| Used a search engine | 17% | 18% | 8% |
| Some other way | 16% | 17% | 21% |
| Clicked on banner ad | 12% | 13% | 8% |
| Email link from other people | 13% | 16% | 14% |
| Typed in website address to see what came up | 11% | 7% | 11% |
| Pop-up ad | 11% | 7% | 8% |
| Magazine/ newspaper | 7% | 7% | 2% |
| Online newsgroup | 4% | 1% | 2% |
Three of every five youth who went to violent cartoon sites that showed things like stick people or animals being hurt or killed, learned about the site from a friend. Clicking on a link from another website also was a common way of discovering these sites. Interestingly, one of every five youth said they learned about the site from a family member in Wave 1.
| How often visit cartoon site in the… | Wave 1 (n = 333) |
Wave 2 (n = 211) |
Wave 3 (n = 172) |
| Typical Month | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | 4% | 3% | — |
| Once or twice a week | 18% | 13% | — |
| Once or twice a month | 23% | 28% | — |
| Less often than once a month | 55% | 56% | — |
| Past Year | |||
| Every day/ almost every day | — | 3% | 2% |
| Once or twice a week | — | 13% | 12% |
| Once or twice a month | — | 26% | 30% |
| Less often than once a month | — | 59% | 56% |
More youth who visited violent cartoon sites in the past 12 months reported doing so frequently compared to youth who visited other types of violent sites. Indeed, two of every five youth (44-45%) visited violent cartoon sites at least once or twice in a typical month.