The custodians of childrens’ online privacy: extending the APCO framework to parental social media sharing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines parental social media sharing, or ‘sharenting’, about their young children by extending the antecedents-privacy concerns-outcomes (APCO) framework. Using a large, international sample of parents to children born during the COVID-19 pandemic, we reveal how parenting styles and privacy concerns impact parents’ decisions to disclose information about their children on social media. Parents who exhibited discipline, anxiety, and involvement parenting styles (i.e. authoritarian and authoritative) reported greater concerns for their child’s online privacy with respect to others in their social network and government but not in relation to commercial entities (e.g. Facebook, Google). Subsequently, social privacy concerns and, to a lesser extent, commercial privacy concerns were associated with fewer disclosures about their children’s information on social media. Governmental privacy concerns were unrelated to parental posting behaviours. Study findings are discussed as part of a new concept called privacy custodianship, which refers to the responsibility of thoughtfully protecting another person’s online presence.