Text-message bullying rising

A growing number of American kids say they have been picked on via text messaging, while there has been little change in online harassment, researchers reported last week.

Of more than 1,100 middle school and high school students surveyed in 2008, 24 percent said they had been "harassed" by texting. That was up from about 14 percent in a survey of the same kids the year before.

"Harassment" meant that peers had spread rumors about them, made "rude or mean comments" or threatened them.

Researchers say the findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that attention needs to be paid to kids' text-messaging world. But they also stress that parents need not be alarmed.

"This is not a reason to become distressed or take kids' cellphones away," said lead researcher Michele L. Ybarra, of Internet Solutions for Kids Inc., in San Clemente, Calif. "The majority of kids seem to be navigating these new technologies pretty healthfully."

A researcher not involved in the study agreed. "I don't think it makes sense for parents to get anxious about every new technology, or every new study," said David Finkelhor, who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

The study included 1,588 10- to 15-year-olds who were surveyed online for the first time in 2006. The survey was repeated in 2007 and 2008, with about three-quarters of the original group taking part in all three.