Highlighted Resources

Internet Safety Video
  
Produced in Pennsylvania, this 22-minute Internet safety resource speaks to parents and caregivers on topics from understanding the serious repercussion of cyberbullying to learning how to safeguard our children from online predators.

This educational video is part of the Protecting Kids Online (PKO) Internet safety initiative sponsored by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania State Police and coordinated by Center for Safe Schools.

Before viewing the video, you are encouraged to first view the Protecting Kids Online (PKO) Video User's Guide (PDF format). The guide provides recommendations on the use of Protecting Kids Online, an educational video on safeguarding children.

All resources below are provided in a PDF format.

Adolescence, race, and ethnicity on the Internet: A comparison of discourse in monitored vs. unmonitored chat rooms
Scholars have argued that the Internet could bring about the realization of an electronic global village, with no race, gender, infirmities, or the social problems that often accompany these physical indicators of difference. In this study, we explored this issue by conducting content and discourse analyses of online conversations about race and ethnicity in teen chat rooms.

Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report
Results challenge prevailing expectations regarding gender, well-being, and identity play. For the most part, adolescent boys’ and girls’ online activities have become more similar than different.

Constructing sexuality and identity in an online teen chat room
Because of the public nature of Internet chat rooms, they provide an open window into the expression of adolescent concerns. Our study utilizes this window to explore how issues of sexuality and identity are constructed in a teen chat room.

Developmental considerations for determining appropriate Internet use guidelines for children and adolescents
The author’s strategy was to investigate websites that cater to children and adolescents. In contrast, the developmental issues of sexuality, aggression, and intergroup relations were raised by visits to chat rooms hosted by two different Internet Web portals.

Electronic media and human development: The legacy of Rodney R. Cocking
Rod was early to understand the value of studying the computer genre that children spent most of their time with - electronic entertainment games, rather than what most researchers were focusing on—the use of computers in formal education.

Heroic DVD portrayals: What US and Taiwanese adolescents admire and understand
Viewing media aggression can be a risk factor for the long-term well being of viewers, and heroes have been targeted as a major risk factor in this relationship because they commit justified acts of aggression.

Impact of computer use on children's and adolescents' development
This paper presents a review of the research on the impact of home computer use on the development of children and adolescents.

Impact of educational television on young children’s reading in the context of family stress
This study examined the impact of educational media use on young children’s (ages 2–5) reading and prereading skills in the context of various family stressors (lack of economic resources, family conflict, and maternal depression).

Inadvertent exposure to pornography on the Internet: Implications of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks for child development and families
This essay comprises testimony to the Congressional Committee on Government Reform. The Committee’s concern was the possibility of exposure to pornography when children and teens participate in peer-to-peer filesharing networks, which are extremely popular in these age groups.

Parent's Guide to Facebook
This guidebook was created by the co-directors of ConnectSafely.org to help parents understand what Facebook is and how to use it safely. With it, parents will be better informed and able to communicate with their young Facebook users. That's important because 1) if something goes wrong, we want our children to come to us and 2) as the Internet becomes increasingly social and mobile, a parent’s guidance and support are ever more key to young people’s well-being in social media and technology.

Psychosocial Support for Patients in Pediatric Oncology: The Influences of Parents, Schools, Peers, and Technology
This article presents a review of the literature on how parents, schools, and peers affect the coping and adjustment of young patients with cancer and critically reviews interventions directed at improving functioning in these areas. Special attention is paid to recent interventions that exploit technology such as video games, CD-ROMs, and the Internet to provide creative new forms of support for patients in pediatric oncology.

Teens On the Internet: Interpersonal Connection, Identity, and Information
Here we review two studies that examine how participants in online teen chat rooms address critical developmental issues, such as identity, sexuality, partner selection, peer relations, and race.

Testimony to the Committee on Government Reform
Focuses on the effect pornography found on peer-to-peer file-sharing programs (and elsewhere) has on children’s development. What are the challenges parents face in reducing their children’s access to pornography on peer-to-peer networks and elsewhere? and What are the non-technical means parents can use to deal with these challenges?

The search for peer advice in cyberspace: An examination of online teen bulletin boards about health and sexuality
This study is a snapshot investigation of a popular health support website, which utilized a peer-generated bulletin board format to facilitate the discussion of adolescent health and social issues. Analyses of two health bulletin boards—one on teen issues and one on sexual health—were conducted on the questions and replies.

Understanding media development: A framework and case study
To sketch part of such a framework and offer an example of its application in a study of the evolution of interactive games