Peer-reviewed article
Parental Digital Tracking of Adolescents' School Performance, Location, and Finances: Widespread, Often Accepted, and Linked to Overprotection.
Boele S, Bülow A, Keijsers L ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how widely Dutch parents use digital tools to track their adolescents' school performance, location, and finances. Nearly all parents tracked at least one domain, and most adolescents accepted this tracking, though acceptance was lower for location tracking. While tracking was not linked to adolescent anxiety or other well-being problems, it was associated with parental overprotection and fear-based thinking. Tracking increased over five years, suggesting it is becoming a standard parenting practice.
Key points
- 99.6% of Dutch parents tracked at least one domain (school performance, location, or finances) in 2024
- Most adolescents accepted tracking, but location tracking was accepted less frequently than other domains
- Digital tracking was unrelated to adolescent anxiety symptoms or well-being measures
- Parental tracking was positively associated with overprotection, parental control, and fear-related factors
- School and location tracking increased significantly over the past 5 years, as did adolescents' acceptance of tracking
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study, so it cannot determine cause and effect relationships or whether digital tracking causes parental overprotection or reflects pre-existing parental anxiety. The study is limited to Dutch families and may not reflect practices or acceptance in other cultural contexts.
Abstract
Introduction Digital tracking tools are now at parents' fingertips, raising concerns about infringement on adolescents' autonomy, privacy, and well-being. Despite growing concerns about parental digital surveillance, empirical research beyond location tracking remains limited. This study examined parental digital tracking across three key domains: school performance, location, and finances. Methods This is a multi-informant, cross-sectional survey study (2024) including 525 Dutch parent-adolescent dyads (adolescents: Mage = 14.1, range = 11-18; 53% female; parents: Mage = 46.7, 81% mothers). A second sample (N = 175 dyads; 2019) tested replication and changes over time. Results In 2024, nearly all parents (99.6%) tracked at least one domain. Most adolescents accepted tracking, though location tracking was accepted less. Younger, less educated parents and mothers were tracked more frequently, particularly in school performance. Adolescents following a lower secondary educational track were tracked more frequently. Younger adolescents and boys experienced more frequent school tracking, whereas older adolescents were tracked more frequently in location. Digital tracking was unrelated to adolescent well-being (e.g., anxiety symptoms) but positively associated with parental control- and fear-related factors (e.g., overprotection, dangerous worldviews). School and location tracking increased over the past 5 years, as did adolescents' acceptance of tracking. Conclusions Parental digital tracking appears a common tool for many parents today, and its frequent use may reflect parental insecurities, with no clear link to adolescent maladjustment. Longitudinal research is needed to examine whether digital tracking reassures parents or reinforces fears, which might undermine parents' - and potentially also adolescents' - well-being.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Parental use of digital tracking tools monitoring school performance, location, and finances
- Population
- 525 Dutch parent-adolescent dyads (adolescents aged 11-18, mean age 14.1 years; 53% female) and a replication sample of 175 dyads
Key finding
99.6% of parents tracked at least one domain in 2024
S et al. · Europe PMC · 20 Jul 2026