Research indicates that participation in metaverse environments and with virtual reality (VR) is increasing among younger populations, and that youth may be the primary drivers of widespread adoption of these technologies. This will more readily happen if their experiences are safe, secure, and positive. We analyze data from a nationally representative sample of 5005, 13- to 17-year-olds in the United States to measure their experiences of 12 specific harms on VR platforms, and which protective strategies they employed to prevent or respond to them. Girls were more likely to be sexually harassed and to experience grooming/predatory behavior, and were more likely to have been targeted specifically because of their gender. Finally, girls were more likely to engage in some specific protective measures online, but overall both boys and girls use platform safety mechanisms infrequently. We discuss enhancements in policy, content moderation, and feature sets that can serve to better safeguard youth in the metaverse.

中文翻译：

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美国青少年元宇宙风险与危害：经历、性别差异及预防和应对措施


研究表明，年轻人对元宇宙环境和虚拟现实 （VR） 的参与正在增加，而年轻人可能是广泛采用这些技术的主要驱动力。如果他们的经历是安全的、可靠的和积极的，这将更容易发生。我们分析了来自美国 5005 名 13 至 17 岁青少年的全国代表性样本的数据，以衡量他们在 VR 平台上对 12 种特定伤害的经历，以及他们采用了哪些保护策略来预防或应对这些伤害。女孩更有可能受到性骚扰和经历诱骗/掠夺行为，并且更有可能因为性别而成为专门针对的目标。最后，女孩更有可能在网上采取一些特定的保护措施，但总体而言，男孩和女孩都使用平台安全机制的频率较低。我们讨论了政策、内容审核和功能集方面的增强功能，这些可以更好地保护元宇宙中的青少年。