What Worries Parents? Today's Issues Ranked

A recent poll conducted by the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health shows that among others, both sexting and internet safety had the largest jump in the list of parents' concerns regarding their kids' safety.

With more and more kids using mobile phones and becoming highly active online, it can be expected of parents to be concerned about their child's mobile and online safety, more than they would years before. The growing concern over sexting and internet safety is now higher than general concerns for smoking and teen pregnancy, with sexting jumping from the 13th spot in 2014 to the sixth in 2015, and internet safety jumping from eighth to fourth.

Topping the list for two years in a row are childhood obesity, bullying and drug abuse. Smoking usually follows after the top three list, but this year, it fell from fourth to seventh.

Matthew M. Davis, M.D., director of the National Poll on Children's Health, said, in a press release via the University of Michigan's Health System, that "the major health issues that people are most worried about for children across the country reflect the health initiatives providers, communities and policy makers should be focused on."

"The increasing level of concern about Internet safety and sexting that are now ranked even higher than smoking as major childhood health issues really dominates the story this year," adds Davis.

Regarding how to deal with parental concerns on technology, Lisa Jones of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, has something to say. "Striking the right balance with controlling technology use and access for children, or monitoring their behavior is something I think we are still figuring out and will probably be an ongoing process for parents," Jones said to Reuters. Jones wasn't involved in the poll.

"The key recommendation for parents is to keep communication open," she said. "Make sure your children feel comfortable coming to talk to you when problems come up."

The top ten concerns are listed as follows:

1. Childhood Obesity (60 percent)

2. Bullying (58 percent)

3. Drug Abuse (53 percent)

4. Internet Safety (51 percent)

5. Child Abuse & Neglect (49 percent)

6. Sexting (45 percent)

7. Smoking and Tobacco Use (45 percent)

8. School Violence (45 percent)

9. Teen Pregnancy (42 percent)

10. Stress (41 percent)

Meanwhile, in the African-American poll results, internet safety fell on the ninth place while sexting wasn't even a concern that made it on the top ten list.

"We found that adults from different communities across the U.S. see the challenges of child health differently," said Davis, per ScienceDaily.

"It's important to understand the priorities of different communities we are trying to reach as we work to safeguard children's health and help them live the healthiest lives they can," he added.