Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management

Kirsty Macmillan; Tessa Berg; Mike Just; Mary Elizabeth Stewart

doi:10.1145/3419249.3420160

Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management

Kirsty Macmillan, Tessa Berg, Mike Just, Mary Elizabeth Stewart

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

12 Citations (Scopus)

1107 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Many autistic children are active online users. Research suggests that they are subject to distress and poor wellbeing following online safety threats. However, it is unclear if autistic children are more likely to experience online safety risks compared with non-autistic children. We conducted a parental online safety survey. Two groups of parents (autistic children, n=63; non-autistic children, n= 41) completed questionnaires about their child's online safety behaviours, wellbeing, and their own parental self-efficacy (PSE). Our results highlight that autistic children experience significantly more online safety risks than non-autistic children and poorer wellbeing than autistic children who did not experience online safety risks. Parents of autistic children reported carrying out significantly less risk management and reported poorer PSE than parents of non-autistic children. Having an autistic child and parental online safety knowledge were significant predictors of PSE. These results will help inform the co-design of interventions to protect autistic children online.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	NordiCHI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Print)	9781450375795
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420160
Publication status	Published - 25 Oct 2020
Event	11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2020 - Tallinn, Estonia Duration: 25 Oct 2020 → 29 Oct 2020 https://nordichi2020.org/

Conference

Conference	11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2020
Abbreviated title	NordiCHI 2020
Country/Territory	Estonia
City	Tallinn
Period	25/10/20 → 29/10/20
Internet address	https://nordichi2020.org/

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorder
internet
online safety
parental mediation
privacy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Networks and Communications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Software

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10.1145/3419249.3420160

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Macmillan, K., Berg, T., Just, M., & Stewart, M. E. (2020). Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management. In NordiCHI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society Article 14 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420160

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title = "Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management",

abstract = "Many autistic children are active online users. Research suggests that they are subject to distress and poor wellbeing following online safety threats. However, it is unclear if autistic children are more likely to experience online safety risks compared with non-autistic children. We conducted a parental online safety survey. Two groups of parents (autistic children, n=63; non-autistic children, n= 41) completed questionnaires about their child's online safety behaviours, wellbeing, and their own parental self-efficacy (PSE). Our results highlight that autistic children experience significantly more online safety risks than non-autistic children and poorer wellbeing than autistic children who did not experience online safety risks. Parents of autistic children reported carrying out significantly less risk management and reported poorer PSE than parents of non-autistic children. Having an autistic child and parental online safety knowledge were significant predictors of PSE. These results will help inform the co-design of interventions to protect autistic children online.",

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booktitle = "NordiCHI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

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note = "11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2020, NordiCHI 2020 ; Conference date: 25-10-2020 Through 29-10-2020",

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Macmillan, K, Berg, T , Just, M & Stewart, ME 2020, Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management. in NordiCHI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society., 14, Association for Computing Machinery, 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2020, Tallinn, Estonia, 25/10/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420160

Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management. / Macmillan, Kirsty; Berg, Tessa ; Just, Mike et al.
NordiCHI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society. Association for Computing Machinery, 2020. 14.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AU - Just, Mike

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Are autistic children more vulnerable online? Relating autism to online safety, child wellbeing and parental risk management

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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