Studying how young people use technology—and translating those findings into research, policy, education, and practice.
I consider myself an action researcher.
By that, I mean that I want results from my research to reach audiences to inform policy, practice, and further research. In graduate school, I was involved in program evaluation research. I worked to examine the effectiveness of various programs targeting youth violence.
Since 2002, my research focus has been on surveying youth about their experiences online. My interest began with cyberbullying, but has expanded to include other online behaviors including sexting, sextortion, digital self-harm, and digital dating abuse.
Most recently, I’ve been exploring adolescent use of Generative AI tools and AI social chatbots. I seek to be on the cutting edge of adolescent behaviors online, and often publish among the first scholarly works about emerging high-tech problems.
My long-time research collaborator Dr. Sameer Hinduja of Florida Atlantic University and I were among the first to publish empirical papers on youth cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, digital self-harm, and harms in the Metaverse.
In addition to peer-reviewed journal articles, I write books, reports, professional resources, and blog posts that target broader audiences. My aim is to make my research as accessible as possible to those who can make a difference in the lives of youth and their families.
I have collected data from more than 50,000 teens and tweens in seventeen unique projects involving participants from seven different countries. I’ve also surveyed parents, educators, and law enforcement officers.
This work began by distributing paper surveys to students in school classrooms in large school districts, or to law enforcement leaders attending the FBI’s National Academy, but has since transitioned to online surveys.
I’ve utilized Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel as well as other research firms to target representative samples of parents to invite them and their children to complete surveys. I enjoy translating those data into information and resources that adults can use to improve youth experiences online.
Understanding the causes, consequences, prevention, and response to online aggression among youth.
Examining adolescent image sharing, nonconsensual distribution, exploitation, and related legal and prevention issues.
Exploring why some young people anonymously post or share hurtful content about themselves online.
Studying how technology can be used to monitor, pressure, harass, or control adolescent dating partners.
Investigating adolescent use of generative AI tools and AI social chatbots, including emerging risks and harms.
Identifying new online behaviors and risks as technologies, platforms, and digital environments evolve.
My research on youth and technology has influenced policy and programming at the Federal Department of Education, numerous State Departments of Education, and many public and private schools across the United States.
It has also helped in training federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, as I have worked with the FBI and the National Association of School Resource Officers.
On a regular basis, I partner with tech companies about youth, safety, and well-being issues, both formally and informally. I currently serve on advisory boards for Meta and Google/YouTube, and I am contacted regularly by people from technology companies.
My research continues to inform their work related to educational and communications initiatives, policy development and enforcement, deterrence and sanction models, strategies to induce positive behavior, product development and engineering, and user interface and user experience design.
I’m also interested in identifying the correlates of online victimization and offending. I’ve examined the role of school climate, resilience, self-esteem, parenting, and suicide, just to name a few.
I’ve also applied criminology theory to help explain contemporary online problems. For example, I’ve examined concepts from deterrence theory, general strain theory, social bonding theory, and social learning theory to explain cyberbullying.
As an applied researcher involved in action research, I am primarily interested in working with law enforcement officials, school administrators, and juvenile justice practitioners to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to address problems in their communities.
Most of my efforts focus on youth violence prevention and control, including evaluating community interventions aimed at adolescent offenders and seeking to identify the causes and consequences of youth violence.
Dr. Hinduja and I have written eight books and numerous academic and professional articles on teen behaviors online.
We co-direct the Cyberbullying Research Center, an information clearinghouse for parents, teachers, researchers, and others concerned about adolescent aggression carried out online.
We conduct workshops and presentations for parents, teachers, and students about the safe and responsible use of technology across the United States and abroad.
Visit the Cyberbullying Research Center →The goal is to translate evidence into information and resources that help adults create safer and healthier experiences for young people.
Selected recent peer-reviewed research on adolescent technology use, online risks, and prevention.
Journal of Adolescence, 98, 1597–1606
Examines adolescent use of conversational AI chatbots, including motivations for use and potentially harmful or risky experiences.
View Article →Child Abuse & Neglect, 175, 107981
Explores the relationship between adolescent sextortion victimization and suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.
View Article →Journal of Adolescent Health, 78(4), 572–579
Uses a national sample of adolescents to examine sexting, nonconsensual sharing of intimate images, and sextortion.
View Article →Aggression and Violent Behavior
Examines how strong parent-child relationships and parental knowledge of online activities may help reduce cyberbullying.
View Article →If you would like a copy of any of the papers listed on my vitae, just email me. I also have a number of other papers in various stages of publication.
If you are interested in any of the research topics listed above, feel free to get in touch.