More than a third (35%) of teens who have parents on Facebook indicate they are not actually friends with them online, according to a new survey from Kaplan Test Prep.
Among that group, 38 percent said the reason they are not friends is because they have ignored their parent’s friend request. Even as some teens ignore their parents’ friend requests, 82 percent say they mom and dad are either “very involved” (44%) or “somewhat involved” (38%) in their academic lives.
“Although for generations high school students have come to accept and even embrace their parents’ involvement in their academic work and the college admissions process, Facebook continues to be the new frontier in the ever evolving relationship between parent and child,” said Kristen Campbell, executive director, college prep programs, Kaplan Test Prep.
“When a teen ignores a parent’s friend request, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are hiding something, but it could mean that this is one particular part of their life where they want to exert their independence. Alternatively, some parents and their children may actually mutually decide to keep their Facebook lives private from one another.”
A separate May 2010 Kaplan Test Prep survey of 973 high school students reported that among teens who said their parents were on Facebook, a much higher percentage (56%) provided their parents with full profile access – status updates, party photos and all – than with no access at all (34%). Only 9% of teens gave their parents limited access.