Parenting Journal · Volume 2 · Issue 5 · Licensed source edition
Adolescent Perceptions of an Online Safety Chatbot: Survey Study
Originally published 2026-02-12 · JMIR Human Factors
JMIR Publications Inc. · DOI 10.2196/71498 ↗
AI / system type
Older NLP intent classifier with scripted responses; not generative AI
Child-facing evidenceExamines children or child-focused systems. Transfer to everyday family life must be assessed separately.
The AI connection
The Google Dialogflow conversational prototype uses machine-learning intent matching with predefined answers, compared with menus.
Why this reading matters
Adds adolescent participation and language fit to judgments about whether support technology respects young users.
Editorial reading guide · Respect
Can my teenager ask an online-safety bot for help in their own words?
Both interfaces led similar proportions to click support links, and higher perceived trust accompanied clicking. Student feedback showed that intent recognition could fail on their language, linking respectful support to whether adolescents can actually express a concern.
Study context
Two hundred twenty-four grade-eleven/twelve students at one local school used conversational and menu-driven online-safety chatbot prototypes in scenario-based activities.
Age / stage: School students with mean age 16.8 years
Read with three questions
- How did the co-design process include students’ priorities?
- What happened when the conversational model misunderstood input?
- Why do link clicks and trust ratings differ from demonstrated real-world help seeking?
Keep the limits in view
This one-school proof of concept used scenarios and self-reported link behavior. Interface differences were small, and the intent model was trained mainly on adults; no real crisis, sustained use, or service outcome was evaluated.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Meriel Charles; James D Sauer; Erin Roehrer; Jeremy Prichard; Paul Watters; Joel Scanlan (2026). Adolescent Perceptions of an Online Safety Chatbot: Survey Study JMIR Human Factors. https://doi.org/10.2196/71498
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.