Digital ambivalence in the online era: a social-ecological study of parental monitoring

Parents monitor their children digital activities in a number of different ways and multiple factors have been identified as significant drivers of parental digital choices. Following the socio-ecological theory developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner, this study aims to contribute to the extant literature on digital parental monitoring by exploring how Italian parents of early adolescents approach monitoring their adolescents’ internet use throughout different nested environmental levels, moving from the narrow family environment to broader life contexts, such as school and peer groups, up to the larger society. Face-to-face interviews were administered to a purposive sample of 147 parents of early adolescents exploring their representations of the internet and of the risk(s) associated with youth internet use, and their knowledge and perspectives on strategies for addressing such risk(s) across various interconnected environments (e.g., home, school and communities). Interviews transcripts were submitted to a quantitative semantic analysis by means of the T-Lab software. The findings revealed that parental monitoring choices evolve as the parents move from the innermost ecological levels with which they are more familiar (e.g., family home and schools) to the levels in which they are not active participants (e.g., peer groups and social networks) and the broader society. The main implication of this study is that parental digital monitoring during early adolescence includes several strategies that change across the multiple nested environmental systems. Understanding the monitoring choices along with a socio-ecological perspective remains critical in promoting healthy online behaviors among early adolescents.