Parental Awareness and Perception of Online Dating Activities of Children

Abstract

Online dating for children is risky as digital media devices saturate their lives. These digital devices, such as smart phones, iPhones, and tablets, are accessible to them and oftentimes provided by parents, notwithstanding the potential threats. With these devices, children get connected to the virtual world, are open to navigating the World Wide Web, and may access dating sites where they can form acquaintances with peers. In Nigeria, it has often been observed that child dren engage in a series of online activities, especially illicit relationship formations, sometimes without the knowledge of their parents, leading to severe negative effects. This paper interrogates the awareness and perception of parents about their children’s online dating activities. The study specifically focused on parents with children below the age of eighteen (18). This study adopted quantitative and qualitative research designs involving a survey and a focus group discussion. The sampling technique for the survey is accidental, while the sampling technique for the FGD is intended for parents exposed to internet-enabled gadgets. The parental mediation theory served as the theoretical framework of the study. The population of the study is a total of 19,074 parents who have children in the state government's public schools. A sample size of 500 teachers was selected based on the recommendations of Comrey and Lee (1992). The instruments for data collection are the questionnaire and the FGD Guide. The study found that the majority of parents strongly believe that their children do not make use of dating sites but use the Internet for a number of other reasons. However, few of the parents are ambivalent about their children’s use of online dating sites. However, they generally monitor their children’s internet use and are yet to experience or
observe their children making use of the dating sites. They are rather confident that their children are not patronizing these sites, as they are still too young to engage in dating activities. This paper concludes that even though parents are aware of the existence of dating sites, they need to be more conscious of their children’s use of the internet. As some parents are still ambivalent about their
children’s use of dating sites, this paper recommends that parental efforts in monitoring their children’s use of the internet should be intensified with a closer attention to their children’s use of dating sites and that children should be more enlightened on the dangers of patronizing dating sites at a young age. Schools, families, and churches may serve as better avenues for carrying out these
sensitization.