kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and KilleenAdults See More Positive 'Tone' On Facebook Than Teens: Study

(MSNBC)- Grown-ups have it easier in a lot more ways than their younger counterparts: They can stay up as late as they want, they don't have anyone nagging them to clean up their room — and adult bullying is less of an issue than teen bullying. Maybe that's why more adults than teens view people as more "kind" than nasty on Facebook and other social networking sites, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

Last fall, the center, in a mirror study about teens, found that more than two-thirds of them said their peers are mostly kind to one another in the remarks they make on such sites. But 88 percent said they have seen examples of mean and cruel behavior to others, and 15 percent say they themselves have been the target of such behavior.

In contrast, 85 percent of adults say that people are mostly kind; 49 percent say they have witnessed mean and offensive behavior.

"Significantly smaller proportions of adults have had bad outcomes based on their SNS (social networking site) use such as confrontations, lost friendships, family strife, and fights," Pew said in the report, "The tone of life on social networking sites."

"Overall, the two surveys show that 41 percent of (social networking site) using teens have had at least one" bad experience, compared with 26 percent of adults.

Pew surveyed 2,260 adults; 87 percent of social networking site users are on Facebook; 14 percent on MySpace, 11 percent use Twitter, 10 percent on LinkedIn, and 13 percent said they use other social networking services.

Among the other findings, when it comes to positive aspects about social networking:

• 68 percent said they had an experience "that made them feel good about themselves."
• 61 percent had experiences that "made them feel closer to another person."
• 39 percent say they "frequently see acts of generosity by other" social networking site users, and 36 percent said they "sometimes" see such behaviors.

"At the same time, notable proportions of (social networking site) users do witness bad behavior on those sites and nearly a third have experienced some negative outcomes from their experiences," Pew said.