Relation between U.S. Parents’ Grief and E-snooping after Adolescents’ Mental Health Disorder Diagnosis

Abstract

Nearly one in five adolescents (ages 12–18) worldwide suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder, and many of these youth fail to receive professional treatment for their disorder because they do not always disclose details of their mental health problems to their parents. As a result, parents may resort to covert monitoring of their child’s electronic communications (e-snooping) to learn what they can about their child’s mental health status. A survey of 154 parents of adolescents (ages 13–17) with a diagnosed mental health disorder explored the correlates of parents’ engagement in e-snooping on their adolescent child. Results showed that parents who have themselves experienced a mental health disorder are more likely to engage in e-snooping, and that parents’ grief about their child’s mental health disorder mediated the relation between parents’ mental health disorder diagnosis and e-snooping, especially among parents who perceived their child’s disorder to be relatively severe. Findings extend current understanding of health information disclosure processes, and provide additional evidence of the benefits of open and autonomy-supportive communication within the family about mental health.