Young Adults’ Management of Privacy on Facebook with Multiple Generations of Family Members

Abstract

How young adults communicate with multiple generations of family members today includes the use of Facebook to maintain family relationships. This study applies communication privacy management (CPM) theory to explore how young adults interact with and manage private information across different generations of their family through Facebook. Overall, 383 young adult participants completed an online survey about online and offline Facebook communication among siblings, parents, and grandparents. Participants interacted with siblings most often through Facebook, followed by parents, and grandparents. The interior family privacy orientation and Facebook privacy management practices significantly predicted variations of online and offline Facebook communication with siblings, parents, and grandparents about social media. The study also examined different types of Facebook socialization messages that young adults conveyed to family members about effective Facebook interactions and ways to preempt privacy breakdowns with their Facebook friends. Implications to CPM theory and future research recommendations are also identified.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank the other members of COMM 6/85675: Communication, Uncertainty, and Privacy Management who were a part of the initial development and data collection for this class research project. Those class members include: Mary-Michelle Coleman, Zhou Zhou, Nada Alfeir, Sara Roxanne Hall-Basel, and Xiowen Fan.