Digital Location Tracking of Children and Adolescents: A Review and Theoretical Model

Resumen

Many parents in the U.S. have begun using GPS-based digital location tracking (DLT) technologies (smartphones, tags, wearables) to track the whereabouts of children and adolescents. This paper reviews the literature to determine what is known about DLT today. We find that there is minimal published data on DLT. There are 5 quantitative studies, all cross-sectional, most of which report only the prevalence of DLT use or the apps used (1 study has reported on correlates). Most published articles on DLT are commentary papers or small qualitative studies addressing the new ethical, developmental, and sociocultural issues that arise from DLT use (e.g., consent, privacy, autonomy, independence). These articles are primarily speculative, rather than representative surveys of what youth and parents actually think or do. Thus, DLT comprises a vastly understudied parenting behavior of developmental and clinical relevance. To stimulate further research, we propose a theoretical model that situates DLT in the more mature literatures on parental monitoring and youth information management.

Áreas y palabras clave

Cómo citar (APA 7)

Davis, I., Thornburg, M. A., Patel, H., & III, W. E. P. (2023). Digital Location Tracking of Children and Adolescents: A Review and Theoretical Model. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8qn7k