Peer-reviewed article
Examining antecedents of parents' privacy concerns and mindful sharenting behaviors: through a lens of protection motivation theory.
Youn S, Peng Z ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines what motivates parents to practice mindful sharenting—carefully controlling what they share about their children online. Using a survey of 603 US parents, researchers found that parents' awareness of privacy risks and concerns about protecting their children's information leads them to use protective strategies. The study shows that these protective behaviors are stronger for parents of younger children (aged 9 and under) than older children.
Key points
- Parents who perceive high risk severity and susceptibility to privacy threats show greater privacy concerns about sharenting
- Privacy concerns predict both photo-related and general protective sharenting behaviors
- The relationship between privacy concerns and protective behaviors is stronger for parents of younger children (≤9 years) than older children (>9 years)
- Response costs (burdens of protective actions) positively relate to parents' privacy concerns
- Educational initiatives are needed to help parents manage privacy risks effectively
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causal relationships or track behavior changes over time. The sample is limited to US parents, limiting generalizability to other countries and cultural contexts.
Abstract
Introduction Awareness of the risks associated with sharing children's information online motivates parents to practice mindful sharenting, a behavior characterized by the use of protective strategies during online sharenting. This study employs Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the factors that predict these behaviors. Methods An cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 603 U.S. parents to test a structural equation model examining how threat appraisals, coping appraisals, and privacy concerns influence protective behaviors. Results Indicate that among threat appraisal, perceived risk severity, susceptibility, and the extrinsic benefit of impression management positively relate to parents' privacy concerns. Among coping appraisal, response costs positively relate to these concerns. Consequently, these privacy concerns are associated with both photo-related and general mindful sharenting behaviors. Discussion The findings also reveal that a child's age moderates these relationships: the links between privacy concerns and both mindful sharenting behaviors are more pronounced for parents with younger children (≤9 years) than parents of older children (>9 years). Practically, the study highlights the need for educational initiatives that upskill parents to manage privacy risks effectively.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Mindful sharenting behaviors—protective strategies used by parents when sharing children's information online
- Population
- 603 US parents completing an online survey
Key finding
Privacy concerns are positively associated with both photo-related and general mindful sharenting behaviors