Children and Online Privacy Protection: Empowerment from Cognitive Defense Strategies

At present, very little is known about what might encourage children and teens to limit access to their private information online and to restrict what they share on social media and video sites. Federal and state agencies face challenges encouraging companies to help children, teens, and parents pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public policy & marketing 2020-04, Vol.39 (2), p.205-219
Main Authors: Andrews, J. Craig, Walker, Kristen L., Kees, Jeremy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Children
Cognition
Computer privacy
Educational films
Empowerment
Government agencies
Internet
Motivation
Privacy
Safety
Social media
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Summary:At present, very little is known about what might encourage children and teens to limit access to their private information online and to restrict what they share on social media and video sites. Federal and state agencies face challenges encouraging companies to help children, teens, and parents protect their information online. The authors extend previous cognitive defense research by examining (1) effects beyond advertising as applied to information privacy online; (2) not only children’s/teens’ beliefs and knowledge, but also their online privacy decisions; (3) multiple age categories; (4) multiple cognitive defense strategies (educational video, quiz with feedback, or absence of a strategy); and (5) children’s/teens’ motivation to restrict what they share online. Key results indicate significant effects of the quiz and educational video over the absence of a strategy in enhancing favorable online safety beliefs and in restricting online sharing. Findings also demonstrate the role of perceived parental influence and for agencies to offer privacy education campaigns to help empower children to protect their privacy. Implications for policy and privacy research are discussed.
ISSN:0743-9156
1547-7207
DOI:10.1177/0743915619883638