Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Digital tracking tools are now at parents’ fingertips, raising concerns about overprotection and infringements on adolescents’ autonomy and privacy. Yet, research beyond location tracking remains overlooked. This preregistered cross-sectional, multi-informant study of 525 Dutch parent–adolescent dyads (adolescents: Mage=14.1, age range=11-18; 53% female; parents: Mage=46.7, 81% mothers) examined digital tracking across three domains: location, school activities, and finances. Nearly all parents (99.6%) tracked at least one domain. Most adolescents viewed tracking as legitimate, though location tracking was seen as less so. Parental digital tracking was unrelated to adolescent well-being but positively to parental factors associated with control and fear. Thus, parents tracking their teenager appears widespread, and may reflect parental insecurities, with no clear between-family link to adolescent maladjustment.
Authors: Savannah Boele, Anne Bülow, Loes Keijsers
Institution: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413126337