Lauren Pappas
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
COMM 2310: Writing about Communication
Professor Lauren Chambliss
October 7, 2021
If the COVID-19 pandemic revealed anything to humankind this past year, it is that learning, working, and socializing online could be the way of the future—unfortunately, Dr. Howard Taylor frets that this increase in screen-time “can leave children vulnerable to online sexual exploitation and grooming,” among other risks, as “not all children have the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to keep themselves safe online” (UNICEF, 2020). Therefore, parents must step in to help their children steer clear of risky behavior effectively, or at the very least, guide them on how to handle such issues when they arise. Sahara Byrne et al. (2014) define risky online behavior as experiencing negative interactions with others and being exposed to crude content while online. The researchers explore this concept in light of which parenting styles may increase the likeliness for parents to underestimate their children’s online risk-taking. In doing so, they find open communication to be an effective solution to improve parents’ awareness of risky behavior (Byrne, 2014). Subsequently, an avenue worth investigating is that parents can lead their children away from risky behavior online with open communication, due in part to open communication’s ability to initiate trust and self-disclosure.
Research indicates that one of the many deterrents of children’s risky behavior online could be open communication. Symons et al. (2019) examined this in terms of whether open communication between mother-child and father-child pairs is positively associated with a child’s acceptance of parental authority on their Internet use. A total of 357 families, including adolescents aged 13 to 18, completed three questionnaires, where they were exposed to statements either focusing on open communication or accepting parental authority. Participants recorded answers within a range of disagreeing to agreeing and measured both open communication and acceptance of parental authority by the frequency of agreement or disagreement. To clarify, one of the statements that had to be agreed or disagreed upon for the acceptance of parental authority was, “I follow the rules that my parents set for my internet usage” (p. 10). The findings illustrated that those who agreed to openly communicate with their mothers also agreed with their mother’s authority online and abiding by it. Hence, open communication here serves as a successful parental mediation to get children to respect, agree with, and follow their mother’s Internet rules (Symons, 2019). Though it is worth mentioning that father-child pairs did not obtain this exact outcome, the researchers noted that such a discrepancy “underscores the importance of integrating mothers’ and fathers’ disparate communication styles” (p.14).
In subsequence, a factor that explains why open communication impacts behavior relates to its tendency to construct trust in parent-child relationships. According to Ying et al. (2015), trust refers to the idea that parents and their children reciprocate confidence in emotional reliability, dependability, and honesty. Ying et al. (2015) surveyed 3,394 secondary school adolescents from China to demonstrate the correlation between trust and communication. In their study, each child’s feeling of trust towards their parents was measured on the Children’s Trust in Parents Scale—developed by Li, Li, and Zou in 2008. This scale helped to accurately determine the frequency children believed they could depend on, be honest with, and share secrets with their parents. Results showed that parent-child pairs who attained trust in one another tended to communicate more openly (Ying, 2015). Thus, when children openly communicated with their parents, feelings of honesty and dependability grew, and the relationship’s frequency of trust increased. In applying this to how children behave online with open communication and trust present at home, Byrne et al. (2011) asked 456 parent-child pairs to rank statements about internet risk prevention strategies based on their attitudes on a survey. These findings indicated that children, ages 10-16, immersed in supportive environments with open communication and trust, were more receptive to internet-use strategies (Byrne, 2011). In contrast, children accustomed to authoritative and permissive parenting styles resisted these strategies. Hence, children were more willing to “put up with any efforts parents make to protect them” or disengage in risky online behavior when they felt they could trust their parents’ strategies (p. 119).
Another factor that seems to support the use of open communication to redirect children’s involvement with risky behavior online is its initiation of self-disclosure. Marciano et al. (2020) examined this through parental knowledge of children’s screen time. Specifically, by asking 1,375 students and 874 parents in Switzerland to rank their feelings about self-disclosure and parental solicitation on a survey. Self-disclosure is a “spontaneous [disclosure] of information” by a child about what they do outside of their parent’s eyes, whereas parental solicitation is a parent’s engagement in open conversation with their child (p. 3). Both were measured on a scale of never to always happening, the latter indicating higher levels of either self-disclosure or solicitation depending on the question. The results found that children disclosed information about themselves on their initiative, most often when they felt their parents were openly communicating with them (Marciano, 2020). In other words, Marciano et al. (2020) determined that a household exhibiting openness and trust tended to enhance a child’s inclination to share information with their parents. Most importantly, the researchers suggested that: “instead of trying to monitor what youngsters are doing discreetly… parents should encourage open communication with their children regarding their Internet use, and use participative decision making to set specific rules about the limits of their Internet behavior” (p. 518). To expand on this concept of open communication over supervision, Liau et al. (2005) surveyed 1,124 adolescents focusing on factors that can predict adolescents’ engagement in risky behavior. The participants were asked to agree or disagree with statements about each element on a survey. For instance, to test the presence of parental supervision, the survey presented statements such as, “I am not allowed to give out any personal information” (p. 516). The researchers concluded that children who frequently self-disclosed their actions on the Internet to their parents engaged in risky behavior less often than children whose parents monitored them online (Liau, 2005). Therefore, supervision techniques were not proven to be as effective as self-disclosure in lowering the risk involved with adolescent Internet use in this case.
In times like these, where screen time is through the roof, the consideration of parenting styles that may be most effective in protecting children from risks online is critical for the safety of children. The findings discussed here allude to the idea that open communication within parent-child pairs may be effective due to its tendency to foster trust and self-disclosure in children. Still, further investigation into the subject of open communication’s impact on children’s behavior online should aim to include research procedures outside of self-report surveys, primarily used here, as they can potentially be biased. Additionally, research that seeks to identify techniques parents can implement in their households to prompt open communication may be helpful. Even so, any way parents can:
“have open dialogues with children on how and with whom they are communicating online; work with children to establish rules for how, when, and where the internet can be used; [and] be alert to signs of distress in children that may emerge in connection with their online activity” is recommended (UNICEF, 2020).
References
Byrne, S., & Lee, T. (2011). Toward predicting youth resistance to internet risk prevention strategies. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 55:90-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2011.546255
Byrne, S., Katz, S. J., Lee, T., Linz, D., & McIlrath, M. (2014). Peers, Predators, and Porn: Predicting Parental Underestimation of Children’s Risky Online Experiences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 19(2), 215–231. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12040.
Children at increased risk of harm online during global covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF. (2020, April 14). https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-increased-risk-harm-online-during-global-covid-19-pandemic
Liau, A. K., Khoo, A., & Hwaang, P. (2005). Factors influencing adolescents engagement in risky internet behavior. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8(6), 513–520. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2005.8.513
Marciano, L., Petrocchi, S., & Camerini, A.-L. (2020). Parental knowledge of children’s screen time: The role of parent-child relationship and Communication. Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650220952227
Symons, K., Ponnet, K., Vanwesenbeeck, I., Walrave, M., & Van Ouytsel, J. (2019). Parent-child communication about internet use and acceptance of Parental Authority. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 64(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2019.1681870
Ying, L., Ma, F., Huang, H., Guo, X., Chen, C., & Xu, F. (2015). Parental Monitoring, parent-adolescent communication, and adolescents' trust in their parents in China. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134730