their anxiety levels as a whole are 10% - 40% lower than those of their parents. It should be noted that junior high and high school students show increasing levels of anxiety as they grow older. However, even high school students, with the highest levels of anxiety among children, were still less anxious than their parents.

The overall picture is one of children having lower levels of anxiety than their parents as a general rule, though as they grow older, their degree of anxiety approaches that of their parents' generation.

## (2) Children's and parents' perceptions of ICT utilization

While an increasing number of children feel anxiety related to the Internet as they grow older, parents who allow their children to use the Internet, on the contrary, feel less anxious about this use as their children grow older. The vast majority of parents responded that they either “pay considerable attention” (41.3%) or “pay attention” (52.3%) to online children’s manners, with only 6.4% admitting that they “pay little attention” (5.7%) or “pay no attention” (0.7%). On the other hand, 32.0% of children say they “pay little attention” and 17.0% say they “pay no attention,” meaning a full 49.0% of children have little or no awareness of online manners (Figure 2-2-1-7). There is a gap between parents’ perceptions and children’s perceptions, and children are notably less conscious of online manners, etc. than their parents.

When it comes to “concerns about others’ online manners,” both parents and children named “online slander and character assassination” as the most threatening, and there are other parallel trends overall, but in all categories a smaller percentage of children described themselves as being “concerned” (Figure 2-2-1-8). Here too we see children being less concerned with others’ online manners.

When asked about household rules for Internet use

Figure 2-2-1-7 Comparison of parents' and children's perceptions of online manners

(Source) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications “Survey on Safety and Security in an ICT Utilization Society” (2011)

agreed upon by parents and children, 58.0% of parents and 51.8% of children said they had either "firm rules established" or "rules established to an extent," indicating that a majority of households had some sort of arrangements in place regarding Internet use (Figure 2-2-1-9). However, when parents' and children's perceptions of such rules were compared, in 27.2% of cases where parents said they "had talked together and agreed on rules," the children said they had not. Conversely, in 18.8% of cases where parents said they "had not talked together and agreed on rules," the children said they had, illustrating the discrepancies between parents' and children's perceptions in many households (Figure 2-2-1-10).

Before examining the influence of parents on children's anxiety levels, let us look at the correlations between parents' and children's ability to utilize information and understanding of security issues, shown in Figure 2-2-1-11 and 2-2-1-12. It is evident that the higher parents' levels of ability to utilize information and understanding of security issues, the more likely they are to have children with relatively high levels of ability and understanding. It follows that parents' use of ICT and acquisition of skills and knowledge give children an important advantage in using ICT and acquiring the necessary basic skills and knowledge.

It should be noted that when it comes to perceived level of understanding of security issues, even when parents responded that they did not understand such issues, 72.7% of their children said their parents “understood security issues.”

As to the question of whether children’s levels of anxiety are affected by their parents’ level of understanding of security issues, there is a tendency for children of parents with poor understanding of security issues to have higher levels of anxiety. This indicates that parents’ understanding of security issues exerts an influence on

Figure 2-2-1-8 Comparison of parents' and children's concerns about others' online manners

(Source) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications “Survey on Safety and Security in an ICT Utilization Society” (2011)