Determinants of Online Privacy Concern and Its Influence on Privacy Protection Behaviors Among Young Adolescents

With Rogers' protection motivation theory as the theoretical framework, this study identified determinants of young adolescents' level of privacy concerns, which, in turn, affects their resultant coping behaviors to protect privacy. Survey data from 144 middle school students revealed that perceived risks of information disclosure increased privacy concerns, whereas perceived benefits offered by information exchange decreased privacy concerns. Subsequently, privacy concerns had an impact on risk-coping behaviors such as seeking out interpersonal advice or additional information (e.g., privacy statement) or refraining from using Web sites that ask for personal information. Counter to our expectation, privacy self-efficacy did not appear to be related to privacy concerns. Implications of privacy education to protect online privacy among young adolescents were discussed.