Research brief

Subtitle:early adolescents' perceptions of the motivations and consequences of sharing passwords with friends in Belgium

Despite indications that password sharing is prevalent among early adolescents, limited empirical research has sought to understand why young teenagers share their passwords with others. This exploratory study aims to address this research gap by investigating early adolescents’ perceptions of the motivations and consequences of sharing passwords with friends. In February and March 2020, we conducted nine focus groups with 51 participants (n = 24 boys, 47%; n = 27 girls, 53%). The participants were between 13 and 16 years old (Mage = 14.35; SDage = 0.74). The results indicate that password sharing is normative among adolescents. We identified five main motivations for sharing passwords. The results indicate that password sharing can either be a very deliberate behavior or occur rather spontaneously. The respondents perceived impersonation, hacking, and posting insulting content as the main negative outcomes of password sharing. The results of our exploratory study provide stepping stones for future theory-driven research and underscore the need for media literacy research to focus on practical technical skills as well as interpersonal skills to educate early adolescents about unsafe password sharing.

Publication year:2023

Keywords:A1 Journal article

Accessibility:Open