What is parental monitoring?

Abstract

Parental monitoring is a construct of longstanding interest in multiple fields—but what is it? In the first part of this paper, we review how the published literature has defined and operationalized parental monitoring. We analyze the theoretical definitions offered in 26 seminal articles and the conceptual content of 281 items from rating scales used to measure monitoring. We find that the monitoring construct has been defined indirectly, capaciously, and inconsistently and been measured using instruments that vary widely in conceptual content. Thus, what is today regarded as a single, unified literature on parental monitoring is more accurately regarded as a complex set of literatures–each one theorizing about and measuring a different amalgam of concepts. In the second part of this paper, we propose a new formulation of the monitoring construct intended to remedy this situation. We define parental monitoring as the set of all behaviors performed by caregivers to gather information about youths’ activities and life. We then develop a taxonomy identifying 5 distinct types of monitoring behaviors, each of which varies along 5 dimensions (performer, target, frequency, context, style). We position parental monitoring as one element within the broader parent-youth monitoring process: the continuous, dyadic interplay between caregivers and youth as they navigate caregivers attempts' to monitor youth. We argue that conceptualizing parental monitoring as a set of behaviors performed only by parents, rather than as a capacious, dyadic construct, will enable more rigorous and impactful science.

Digital location tracking of children and adolescents: a theoretical framework and review

“…We begin by casting parent DLT use as a form of parental monitoring: a behavior the parent performs with the goal of gathering information about the youths' activities and life (Pelham III, Racz, et al, 2023) . Parent DLT use is a monitoring behavior that gathers information on a single dimension: location.…”

“…Parents' DLT behaviors can each vary in the frequency , context , and style in which they are performed (Pelham III, Racz, et al, 2023) . Frequency refers to how often they are performed-for example, does the parent check the youth's location 5 times per day or 1 time per week.…”

“…Youth perception. Besides prompting parent action, DLT could change youth behavior directly: simply knowing that DLT is activated and being checked will change where youth go and what they do Pelham III, Tapert, et al, 2023) . For example, if the youth is home alone and offered a ride to go to a party across town, the youth may decline knowing that their parent would see him/her leave home.…”