Very few parents believe that social media sites have a positive influence on their children, with many concerned about the anger and hostility displayed by users, a new survey has found.

Over 1,700 parents of children aged 11 to 17 took part in the UK survey, however just 15% said that they thought social media sites, such as Facebook, were a positive influence on young people.

Some 40% of parents said they were ‘concerned' or ‘extremely concerned' about the potentially harmful impact of these sites.

When asked about negative character traits that they saw on social media sites at least once a month, 60% of parents said that hostility and anger were the most negative traits they saw. These were followed by arrogance (51%), ignorance (43%), bad judgment (41%) and hatred (36%).

When asked about character strengths that they felt were lacking on these sites, 24% said self-control and forgiveness were most lacking, followed by honesty (21%), fairness (20%) and humility (18%).

"There are some surprising findings in the poll, not the least the low level of agreement that social media can enhance or support a young person's character or moral development," commented Dr Blaire Morgan of the University of Birmingham.

Meanwhile, the most common character strengths seen by parents on these sites were humour, appreciation of beauty, creativity, love, courage and kindness.

However, the researchers noted that some parents may need to reflect on their own use of social media before criticising their children's use.

Among the parents surveyed, 33% admitted to using social media for up to two hours a day, 17% admitted using it for up to four hours per day, while 6% said they are on social media sites for more than seven hours per day.