The perception of risk on social networks among immigrant youth in Spain

Abstract

This paper systematises the results of the specialised documentary search in online media on Youth, Immigration, Social Networks and Risks, together with the preliminary results obtained in the fieldwork of the research project "Social relations of young migrants on the Internet from the perspective of interculturality" (CSO2011- 24376), an R&D project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain. The documentary search focuses on scientific works, including other sources only in particularly relevant cases (specialised blogs, institutional websites, etc.). The results of this systematisation show that the relationship between the descriptors Youth-Immigration-Social Networks-Risks has not been fully dealt with in the scientific literature, with few bibliographical references that address the problem by combining these four perspectives. This absence offers an interesting field of academic work on the risks in the construction of the identity of young immigrants, in which values such as tolerance, racism, intimacy, sexism, etc. come into play. The documentary research is complemented and reinforced by the fieldwork, which consisted of focus groups with Spanish and immigrant adolescents in school in three Spanish provinces (Barcelona, Madrid and Vizcaya), aged between 13 and 18. The methodology used was experimental, through research workshops in which information from individual questionnaires was combined with group discussion and the consensual production (by sex) of iconographic materials (photographs) relating to their own identity and cultural aspects. The discussion guide included, among other topics, the exploration of young people's perceptions of the risks associated with the use of technologies and, more specifically, social networks. This paper analytically explores the first results of this fieldwork.