Parental Mediation Strategies and Their Role on Youths’ Online Privacy Disclosure and Protection

Abstract. The amount of personal information shared online every day by youths without control has raised concerns about their vulnerability to privacy disclosure. Parental mediation strategies have been considered as important aspects that can contribute to the reduction of online-related risks. However, research on this field has shown puzzling results and there is not a consistent investigation of the specific role of parental mediation in youths’ online privacy management. Therefore, this systematic review was aimed at examining the evidence for associations between different parental mediation strategies and aspects of both privacy disclosure and protection. The search was conducted in December 2019 in the SCOPUS and Web of Science scientific databases and resulted in 17 studies that have been included in our review. Taken together, the results confirm that mediation practices can be considered as important variables for the reduction of information disclosure and for enhancing privacy protection. However, some specificities emerged. Restrictive forms of mediation showed clear negative associations with disclosing behaviors, whereas active strategies showed more contrasting results. Moreover, restrictive practices seemed to be less linked to attitudes and beliefs of privacy protection than active forms. More research is needed concerning the role of co-viewing strategies. Findings were discussed in terms of future research and intervention.