Tracking Teens: Parental Overprotection Going Digital

Digital tracking tools are now at parents’ fingertips, raising concerns about overprotection and infringements on adolescents’ autonomy and privacy. Yet, research beyond location tracking remains overlooked. This preregistered cross-sectional, multi-informant study of 525 Dutch parent–adolescent dyads (adolescents: Mage=14.1, age range=11-18; 53% female; parents: Mage=46.7, 81% mothers) examined digital tracking across three domains: location, school activities, and finances. Nearly all parents (99.6%) tracked at least one domain. Most adolescents viewed tracking as legitimate, though location tracking was seen as less so. Parental digital tracking was unrelated to adolescent well-being but positively to parental factors associated with control and fear. Thus, parents tracking their teenager appears widespread, and may reflect parental insecurities, with no clear between-family link to adolescent maladjustment.