Teen online information disclosure: Empirical testing of a protection motivation and social capital model

With bases in protection motivation theory and social capital theory, this study investigates teen and parental factors that determine teens' online privacy concerns, online privacy protection behaviors, and subsequent online information disclosure on social network sites. With secondary data from a 2012 survey (N=622), the final well-fitting structural equation model revealed that teen online privacy concerns were primarily influenced by parental interpersonal trust and parental concerns about teens' online privacy, whereas teen privacy protection behaviors were primarily predicted by teen cost-benefit appraisal of online interactions. In turn, teen online privacy concerns predicted increased privacy protection behaviors and lower teen information disclosure. Finally, restrictive and instructive parental mediation exerted differential influences on teens' privacy protection behaviors and online information disclosure.