Associations Between Parental Monitoring, Adolescent Disclosure,
and Adolescent Risky Internet Behaviors
Elizabeth Yale, M.A., Aaron Metzger, Ph.D., Amanda Hanrahan
Department of Psychology West Virginia University Life-Span Development
Abstract
 The present study used a multi-informant (mothers and teens)
approach to assess associations between:
 Mothers’ internet/phone specific information gathering
strategies (rules, solicitation, covert).
 Teens’ internet/phone specific information management
strategies (disclosure, secrecy).
 Teens’ internet risks, including engagement in cyberbullying,
cyber victimization, and risky internet behaviors.
 Risky internet behaviors were significantly associated with:
 Adolescent disclosure about internet behaviors
 Mothers’ covert internet monitoring for girls but not boys
Background
 Increased internet and cell phone use put adolescents at risk for:
 cyber bullying/victimization (Ybarra et al., 2011).
 other risky internet behaviors (e.g., sending sexually explicit
text messages (Ybarra et al., 2011).
 Factors which may protect against internet risks:
 Parent-adolescent communication
 Parental behavioral control strategies
 Parents knowledge of teens’ whereabouts and activities is
consistently linked with positive outcomes (Kerr et al., 2010).
Methods
PARTICIPANTS
141 mother-adolescent dyads from Mid-Atlantic towns.
 Adolescents
 Mage= 14.38, SD = 1.72; 80% Caucasian/White
 60% female
 Mothers
 Mage= 43.48, SD = 6.78; 80% Caucasian/White
 93.6% Birth Mothers
MOTHER-REPORTED MEASURES
Solicitation about internet/phone use: (7 items;  = .90)
 Assessed frequency of mothers’ asking their teens about
internet/phone behaviors (1 = Never to 5 = Always).
 Example: The types of text messages he/she sends on his/her cell
phone?
Family rules about internet/phone use: (4 items;  = .78)
 Assessed the extent to which a family has rules about internet and
phone use (1 = No rules to 5 = Firm, clear rules).
 Example: How long your is child allowed to be online?”
Covert monitoring of teens’ internet/phone use (4 items;  = .70):
 Assessed whether parents utilized indirect strategies to gain
information about their adolescents’ internet/phone behaviors .
 1 = yes, 0 = no
 Example: “Do you use social networking sites (such as FACEBOOK) to
monitor your child’s behavior?”
ADOLESCENT-REPORTED MEASURES
 Teens’ internet/cell phone specific information management
 Disclosure – freely sharing about internet/phone use
 Secrecy – actively keeping internet/phone use a secret
Adolescent disclosure and secrecy about internet/phone use:
 5 items assessed frequency of adolescents’ internet/phone
disclosure (How often do you tell your parents about the following).
 5 items assessed frequency of secrecy about internet/phone use
(How often do you keep the following activities secret).
 1 = Never to 5 = Always
 Example: “The types of pictures and comments you put on your
social networking site?”
Risky internet behaviors: (6 items;  = .75)
 Measured the frequency of adolescents’ engagement in risky
internet/phone behaviors (0, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 7-10, 11+ times)
 Example: How often in the last 30 days have you text/sexted sexual
messages?
Cyberbullying behaviors and cyber victimization:
 5 items ( = .72) assessed frequency of engagement in cyberbullying
behaviors.
 7 items ( = .89) assessed frequency of cyber victimization.
Study Questions
Results
 Parents’ engage in monitoring strategies to gain information
including solicitation, as well as indirect approaches such as
checking teens’ personal items (Crouter & Head, 2002).
 Adolescent disclosure most consistently predicts knowledge,
and positive outcomes (Cumsille et al., 2010; Kerr et al., 2010).
 Less research has considered computer and cell phone specific
family processes:
 Mothers’ internet and cell phone specific monitoring
strategies
 Rules about internet/phone use
 Solicitation, or asking, about internet/phone use
 Covert monitoring (e.g. reading teens’ emails)
 Are there associations between mothers’ internet monitoring
strategies (solicitation , rules, covert) and youth internet risks?
 Do these associations vary as a function of age or gender?
 Are there associations between adolescent-initiated processes,
internet disclosure and secrecy, and adolescents’ internet risks?
 Do these associations vary as a function of age or gender?
 Three regressions predicted cyberbullying behaviors, cyber
victimization, and risky internet behaviors. Models controlled for
teen age, sex, internet use, and cellphone use.
 Age (β = .18, p = .03) and time spent on a cell phone (β = .35, p < .001)
predicted engagement in cyberbullying behaviors.
 Gender (β = .18, p = .03) and time spent on a cell phone (β = .27, p < .01)
predicted cyber victimization.
Results
Figure 1. Mothers’ covert monitoring and adolescents’ risky
internet/phone by gender
Table 1. Regression table for prediction of adolescent risky
internet/phone behaviors
Adolescent Risky Internet/Phone
R2*
Step 1
.23
F Change
Beta
11.57**
Age
.23**
Gender
-.04
Internet Use
-.04
Cell Phone Use
Step 2
.39**
.26
1.97
Teen Disclosure
-.23**
Teen Secrecy
.06
Mother Internet Rules
.08
Mother Internet Solicitation
.02
Mother Internet Covert Monitoring
Step 3
-.16
.28
4.13*
Mother Covert X Teen Gender
.24*
Note. R2* = adjusted R; Betas are from the final step of the
regression; Non-significant 2-way interactions from the final model
were excluded from the table; * p < .05; ** p < .01
 Increased mothers’ covert monitoring was associated
with increased risky internet behavior for girls, not boys
(girls: B = .09, SE = .05, p = .04).
Discussion
 Parent and adolescent communication about internet and cell phone behaviors:
 Associated with reduced risky internet behaviors, but unrelated to cyberbullying or victimization.
 Adolescents who discuss what they are doing online with their parents may engage in fewer risky internet behaviors (sexting, talking
to strangers online).
 Mothers’ sneaky internet monitoring may lead to more risky behaviors, especially for girls.
 Mothers could be reacting to girls’ risky internet behaviors.
 Teen girls may feel that their privacy has been violated and react to parents’ sneaky monitoring.
 Increased cell phone use (but not internet use) was associated with increased internet risks, including cyberbullying, cyber victimization
and risky internet behavior.
 The mobile nature of cellular phones may limit adults’ ability to traditionally monitor teens’ usage, and increase teens’ vulnerability.
 Parents may play a protective role by encouraging teens’ to discuss their internet behaviors, rather than setting rules about internet use,
or tracking the websites teens’ are visiting.
 Future research should examine potential indirect effects of parenting on internet risks, including the facilitation of adolescent disclosure
from parents’ open communication, less strict rules, and relationship quality.
References
 Crouter, A. C., & Head, M. R. (2002). Parental monitoring and knowledge of children. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of
Parenting: Vol. 3. Being and Becoming a Parent (pp.461-483). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
 Cumsille, P., Darling, N., & Martinez, M. L. (2010). Shading the truth: Adolescents’ decisions to avoid issues, disclose, or lie
to parents. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 285-296. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.10.008
 Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Burk, W. J. (2010). A reinterpretation of parental monitoring in longitudinal perspective. Journal of
Research on Adolescence, 20(1), 39-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00623.x
 Ybarra, M. L., Mitchell, K. J., & Korchmaros, J. D. (2011). National trends in exposure to and experiences of violence on the
Internet among children. Pediatrics, 128, e1376-e1386. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-0118
For more information contact:
Elizabeth Yale (eyale@mix.wvu.edu), or
Aaron Metzger (Aaron.Metzger@mail.wvu.edu)
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