Peer-reviewed article
How Children Seek (or Avoid) Intergenerational Social Support in Their Online Lives:A qualitative analysis of children’s problematic and positive experiences with parental involvement
Daniel Malling Blaabjerg-Zederkoff, Christine Emilie Tonne; id_orcid 0009-0005-8807-5457 Artak, Andreas; id_orcid 0000-0003-0214-5791 Lieberoth ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how Danish children in grades 3-4 and 7-8 experience and manage parental involvement in their online lives through 85 interviews with 171 children. The research found that children actively handle online problems but often turn to peers instead of adults, and that trust and communication gaps widen as children get older. The study shows that children's participation in conversations about their digital experiences is constrained by how they experience being heard or sanctioned by adults. The findings suggest current approaches to online safety may not align with how children actually seek or avoid support.
Key points
- Children actively manage both problematic and positive online experiences rather than passively waiting for adult guidance
- After 3rd-4th grade, many children reduce engagement with adults about online struggles, turning instead to peers
- Children experience 'digital conversational gaps' and 'trust gaps' that constrain their willingness to talk with adults about online episodes
- Children's own developing norms and technical competencies influence their preference for peer support over adult involvement
- Children's rights and participation are enacted or constrained in everyday exchanges about their digital lives
Limitations
This qualitative study with Danish children may not generalize to other cultural contexts or countries with different norms around parental involvement and digital safety. The study does not provide quantitative measurements of outcomes or test the effectiveness of any specific intervention to improve intergenerational communication.
Abstract
This article draws on 85 episodic interviews with 171 Danish children in grades 3–4 and 7–8 to examine how children experience and navigate parental involvement in their online lives across early and late digital socialization. Using a grounded theory approach, we analyze when children seek or avoid adult support, how they experience being heard or sanctioned, and why many appear to reduce engagement with adults about online struggles after 3rd–4th grade. Amid strong political and parental attention to online safety, limited research has addressed how emerging social norms and early digital experiences shape intergenerational dialogue. While children’s perspectives are often underrepresented in public debate, our data suggest that children actively manage both problematic and positive online experiences, frequently turning to peers and their own developing norms and technical competencies rather than adults. The study develops the concepts of digital conversational gaps and trust gaps to explore how children’s rights and participation are enacted or constrained in everyday exchanges. Drawing on the Child and Adolescent Social Support model and extending the framework of Digital Care, the analysis identifies which forms of social support are present in children’s experiences and how these influence their willingness to engage in intergenerational conversations about digital episodes.