Introduction

At the global level, an emerging socio-technological scenario called the ‘digital revolution’ is being expe rienced, reorganizing several dimensions in human, social, industrial and political terms. The ‘digital re volution’ is a construct that is understood as the in fluence, the growing, everyday use of the Internet and high-speed digital systems¹, the massive use of social networks^2,3, the social diffusion of information tech nologies^4,5, groups of computerized children⁶, among other phenomena. This leads different authors and political organizations^7,8,9 to point out that humankind faces profound changes in various dimensions. Socio historical and technological changes known as the ‘di gital revolution’.

This is the context in which children, adolescents, and young people experience their biopsychosocial well-being and health increasingly related to the In ternet and the new digital technologies^10,11. For this reason, health and education in the promotion of biopsychosocial well-being and quality of life¹² should consider this dimension of social interaction.

The digital age presents risks and opportunities that can be observed, studied and addressed. Among the risks are scenarios such as: a) harassment or aggres sion between adults on the Internet or cyberbullying¹³, b) harassment or aggression between minors or peers on the Internet or cyberbullying¹⁴, c) dissemination of sexual intimacy or sexting¹⁵, e) aggressions against teachers or former teachers on social networks¹⁶, and f) online deception of minors by adults or grooming¹⁷, complex challenges, to name a few. It should also be considered that the risks in the digital world can be re lated and enhanced, as in the case of ‘revenge porn’, where sexting and cyberbullying are presented and enhanced¹⁵.

Out of the risks researched on the Internet, cyber bullying has the largest number of studies and publications¹⁴ with the greatest conceptual development, models, and studies. In the development of the cyber- bullying area, there are different conceptual and ope rational definitions, type of variable measured or time of occurrence observed¹¹, that is to say, there is not yet a unified knowledge area in this field. The terms cyberbullying, grooming, and sexting, as well as their definition, are under construction. They are concepts approached from different paradigmatic perspectives. Out of the three concepts, grooming is the only one criminalized in Chile (Law 20,526).

As global research indicate, the prevalence of cy berbullying among young people varies between 10% and 53%, depending on the definition of cyberbullying and the studied age group. In the USA, approximately 30% of secondary school students report some expe rience of cyberbullying and in the UK, 20% of children between the ages of seven and eleven report having experienced cyberbullying¹⁸. In this global context, it stands out the low percentage reported by the National Survey on Prevention, Aggression, and Harassment in Schools, SIMCE at 8^th grade, carried out by the Minis try of Education of Chile in 2011, which shows that abuse through the electronic media corresponds to 5%¹⁹.

At the global level and in capitalist or free market systems, in particular, the economic, social and cultural inequality is a constant. In the European Union, for example, the social gap is widening. In Spain, the children of blue-collar workers tend to remain blue- collar workers. Only 27% of them attend high school²⁰. Something similar is observed in the south of the world. Chile is one of the most unequal economies in the world²¹. As in other dimensions and attributes, in equality is observed and projected in the digital divi de¹. The gap in access to new technologies is between ‘information-rich and information-poor regions and countries’⁴, between groups of different socioecono mic status (SES), and types of social education²². Aga inst the general trend, the gap according to SES or type of school administration is not observed in a cyberbu- llying survey carried out in 2014, where 11.4% repor ted having been a victim of some type of cyberbullying and 12.5% was in Santiago. Also, there were no signi ficant differences in the victims according to gender, grade, and type of school in Santiago, Chile³¹.

In this context, the objective is to identify the presence of grooming, cyberbullying, and sexting in primary and secondary school students in Chile at a national level by type of school administration and gender.

It is important to manage base data and avoid re producing the approach from ‘black veils’ or pathology as a focus. The comprehensive biopsychosocial and psychoeducational health model is a plausible alterna tive where prevention and promotion work in an inte grated way with intervention²⁸. In this sense, positive psychology can be useful in the promotion, preven tion, and intervention, where higher levels of informa tion, well-being, and satisfaction²⁹ are promoted from work and specific information.

Patients and Method

Research with a quantitative, exploratory and des criptive methodological framework. The type of sam pling was non-probabilistic by quotas. The sample was weighted with representation in the different quotas, which were segmented according to three variables: type of school administration (type of school), age range (5 to 18 years) and gender. 4,790 men and 8,136 women, with an average age of 13.17 years. In muni cipal dependent schools (MDS), 755 women and 613 men (1,368 students), in subsidized private schools (SPS), 6,057 women and 2,838 men (8,895 students), and in private schools (PS), 1,324 women and 1,339 men (2,663 students) participated in 60 educational establishments nationwide. Table 1 shows the sample made up of 12,926 primary and secondary school stu dents in Chile by type of school administration.

Tabla 1 Table of frequency of the sample according to educational level and type of School management or administrative dependency. 

The selection of the participating schools was ba sed on the national quotas according to the three types of schools in the center, south and north areas of the country, considering meeting the quotas for primary and secondary education according to gender and age.

Because the age groups were unequally represented in the sample, they were weighted in order to give them back their respective weight in the studied population. Table 2 shows the expansion factors of the quotas esta blished according to age range and gender.

Table 2 Factors of expansion of the sample in children, adolescents and young people. 

The sample was calculated with 95% of confidence and 1% of sampling error. It was assumed 95% confi dence, which corresponds to a Z value of 1.96.

The data collection at the national level was carried out in a single moment, May and June 2010.

Results

Risks on the Internet are presented with specific characteristics in the different groups of the popula tion according to the type of school administration and gender. In the general table, by type of school adminis tration, table 3 shows that grooming is the highest risk indicator, in the item ‘(In the last year) Has any adult contact ever cheated on you through social networks or cell phones with his or her identity?’, in MDS (12.6%), with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) with the SPS (8.2%) and the PS (8.4%), which do not pre sent significant differences between them (p > 0.05). The grooming indicator ‘(In the last year) Has an adult on the Internet or cell phone pressured you to get priva te information?’ also shows higher percentages in the profiles of MDS students (6.3%) with statistically sig nificant differences (p < 0.05) with PS (4.1%) and no significant difference with SPS (5.0%).

Table 3 Grooming, Cyberbullying and Sexting according of school management or administrative dependency. 

The cyberbullying indicator ‘(In the last year) Have you received threats or discrimination through the Inter net or cell phone?’ is present in 7.7.% of the MDS pro files with no statistically significant difference with the SPS profiles (7.0%) and with a statistically significant difference when compared to PS (5.4%). In the active indicator of cyberbullying ‘(In the last year) Have you made threats or discriminated against on the Internet or cell phone?’, it is transversal. There are no significant differences in the profiles of MDS (6.4%), PS (6.2%) and SPS (5.5%).

The sexting indicator (active) ‘(In the last year) Have you shared pictures or videos of you in underwear or nudes through your cell phone or Internet?’ stands out because it presents a particular trend. The highest percentage is in PS students (6.1%), with a statisti cally significant difference with SPS students (4.1%). The MDS profiles (5.0%) do not present a statistically significant difference with the other two groups. The sexting indicator (receive) ‘(In the last year) Have you received on your cell phone or Internet pictures or videos in underwear or nudes?’ shows a trend with a higher percentage in the MDS profiles (7.7%), followed by the PS (5.8%) without presenting statistically signifi cant differences between them. A smaller percentage is observed in the SPS (5.1%) with statistically significant differences with the MDS.

In relation to the sum or total of the percentages, the presence of grooming appears as the main risk in the three types of schools. In students of MDS (18.9%), SPS (13.2%) and PS (12.5%).

In relation to the type of school and gender, Table 4 shows the risk of grooming with a higher presence in men of SPS 19.9% and PS 16.9%. In municipal dependent schools, shared risk is 20.4% for men and 17.7% for women.

Table 4 Grooming, cyberbullying and Sexting according of sex and school management or administrative dependency. 

Cyberbullying indicators show statistically signi ficant differences in almost all the comparison points according to type of school and gender. The Cyber- bullying indicator (active) (In the last year) Have you made threats or discriminated against on the Internet or cell phone?’ shows higher percentages in men, in the three types of school administration, with statistically significant differences (p<0.05) with 9.0% in men of MDS, 11.9% in men of SPS, and 9.6% in men of PS. As a complementary result, women do less cyberbullying than men. Cyberbullying (active) in women is observed in 4.2% in MDS, 2.4% in SPS, and 2.6% in PS, with statistically significant differences in relation to the percentages of men in each type of school ad ministration.

In the Cyberbullying indicator (passive) ‘(In the last year) Have you received threats or discrimination through the Internet or cell phone?’, there are no statis tical differences in the profiles according to gender in the MDS, with 7.4% in women and 8.2% in men. The statistical differences are observed when comparing SPS, with 5.2% for women and 10.8% for men; and for PS, 4.4% for women and 6.4% for men. Total cyberbullying is higher in men.

The sexting indicators show higher percentages in men with statistically significant differences in relation to women. The sexting indicator (active) ‘(In the last year) Have you shared pictures or videos of you in underwear or nudes through your cell phone or In ternet?’ stands out the percentage of men in PS with 10.6% in relation to women with 1.6%. There is also a significant gap in the MDS profiles by gender (wo men 2.8% and men 6.7%) and SPS (women 2.8% and men 6.7%). The sexting indicator (receive) ‘(In the last year) Have you received on your cell phone or Internet pictures or videos in underwear or nudes?’ shows higher percentages in men, with a higher presence in MDS of 11.3%, followed by SPS with 9.6% and PS with 9.2%. These differences show statistical differences in rela tion to women in the three types of school. This trend is maintained in the total sexting data with 8.2% in wo men and 18.3% in men of MDS; 5.7% in women and 16.3% in men of SPS and 4.0% in women and 19.8% in men of PS.

Discussion

The objective is to identify and describe the per centages of cyberbullying, grooming, and sexting in primary and secondary school students in Chile by type of school administration and gender. This purpose appears facing the lack of information, guidan ce data, and unified views (operationalization) on the definitions of the main risks on the Internet. This lack is also observed in the temporal measure used for its measurement and methodologies in the investigations or in the measured behavior. For this reason is possible to observe that the prevalence of cyberbullying varies between 5% and 34%, depending on the studies¹¹. In Chile, we have cyberbullying data from 5%²⁰, with no differences between types of school administration³¹, others that indicate 10.6% of aggression through the Internet²³ or with a greater presence in men (22.7%), with a significant difference, as in this research.

Cyberbullying has specific characteristics and knowing this allows the work of promotion and prevention along with the intervention focused on risks and cases. The difference between men and women opens the possibility of positive campaigns to reinfor ce the high points in women, who made less cyberbu llying (active) than men, with 2.4% in SPS, 2.6% in PS, and 4.2% in MDS.

Elements such as these and the interest of health professionals and pediatricians in receiving informa tion from social networks⁵ can be a scenario of inte raction and communication for promotion and pre vention in education and health from the active agents. One way is to use the fragmentation that technology allows⁶ according to topics (videos, Gifs, infographics, among others) according to risks and specific data on prevention and promotion in education and health.

According to the data obtained, the highest percen tage of children, adolescents and young people, over 80%, do not report having experienced deception on the Internet (grooming), aggression on the Internet (cyberbullying) or exposed sexuality (sexting) in the last year. Among the three risks assessed in 12,926 pri mary and secondary school students, grooming (de ception, false identities, and pressure) is the one that has the highest total percentage in the three types of school. The traditional gap or inequality is consistent in the profiles in relation to the statistically significant differences in total grooming in men. It is a higher risk in men where total grooming is 20.4% in MDS, 19.9% in SPS and 16.9% in PS. In the investigations in gene ral, data point in this direction. A research with a pre teens sample aged 10 to 12 identified that 27.9% of the participants reported having been victims of cyberbullying at least once a week during the last six months¹⁰. In Peru, the level of cyberbullying among students was 27.7%. In this country, there have also been publica tions on bullying in schools in areas where there was terrorism, with a prevalence rate close to 50%²⁴. In this phenomenon, there is a margin of black figure. For each case reported, there may be three cases that are not reported to parents or classmates¹⁴.

From prevention, promotion, and cases, the person has an active role, where he or she participates and in fluences, along with other variables, in his or her well being and integral health. People are active agents and competent people arrange diverse resources, personal and environmental, to achieve an objective in a particular socio-historical context²⁵. The actions of people are protective or risk factors in well-being and quality of life, as is the case with social skills, skills for the good life and the empowerment of virtuous circle²⁶. For this reason, the analysis must be made from a social and contextual perspective²⁷ considering people and their social environment.

Beyond the data, the description of grooming, cyberbullying, and sexting by type of school and gender makes it possible to focus on prevention in the different establishments. An educational process may be more relevant to PS students addressing sexting risk speci fically, for example, in men. When a talk on preven tion is given at MDS, it may be pertinent to address the risk of cyberbullying or grooming in men and women. Although the risks are present in the different groups, there are particular elements that make it possible to focus the work of prevention or applied to cases.

A major difficulty faced by health, education and parenting professionals and workers is that the con cepts of grooming, cyberbullying, and sexting are not present in the reporting systems of the Superintenden cy of Education in Chile (2013 to 2017), in government investigations or in the Digital Agenda 2017. These concepts are not present in the Safe School program of the Ministry of Education of Chile or in general, they are not present in the School Coexistence programs of the Schools or PEI. Its absence is also seen in the Digital Agenda of Chile 2013-2020. These concepts are also not usually present as points in the anamnesis of the workers in the area.

This article seeks to make this often invisible reality visible, or somewhat confusing at other times.

In the results and in this article, the limitations of the quantitative estimate used should be considered, such as the limitation of the use of online questionnai res in emerging and complex topics. Although it allows an approach, it opens the challenge of future research that can qualitatively identify the risk and protective factors and behaviors associated with the indicators of grooming, cyberbullying, and sexting, such as identifying characteristics by specific stage of growth or geo graphic area, with relevant information that can guide prevention and promotion programs in health, educa tion and parenting at the national level. The challenge of the specific work in relation to men and the risks on the Internet in certain indicators in the different types of schools according to the type of school administration is presented.

Knowledge and information promote freedom and life. Ignorance or unawareness can kill or make you sick. This article seeks to contribute to the direction of information in some of the new phenomena experien ced by children, adolescents and young people in the digital age.

Ethical responsibilities

Human Beings and animals protection: Disclosure the authors state that the procedures were followed ac cording to the Declaration of Helsinki and the World Medical Association regarding human experimenta tion developed for the medical community.

Data confidentiality: The authors state that they have followed the protocols of their Center and Local regu lations on the publication of patient data.

Rights to privacy and informed consent: The authors have obtained the informed consent of the patients and/or subjects referred to in the article. This docu ment is in the possession of the correspondence author.

Financial disclosure: Research project of the Doctorate program in Psycho logy and Education of the University of Granada.

Conflicts of Interest: Authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the present study.

Aknowledgments: To the collaborators and more than 18.000 partici pants of the “Radiography of Chile Digital (2010). Special thanks to the methodologist Ps. Nicolás Mu ñoz Vera for his continuous and constant support in research methodology.