The association between parenting styles and location tracking among adolescents: A mediation of relational processes

Objective: This study explores the mechanisms linking parenting styles to digital parental location tracking. Background: The use of digital parental location tracking is increasing rapidly. However, empirical research on this practice remains limited, particularly regarding its relation to parenting styles—one of the most extensively studied constructs in psychology, known for its enduring influence on adolescents' development and family dynamics. Moreover, existing studies prioritize parents' reports, leaving adolescents' perspectives underexplored. Method: This study employs three serial multiple mediation models based on survey data collected from 635 Israeli adolescents aged 12 to 18. Results: Each parenting style—authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive—was indirectly associated with parental location tracking through a sequence of mediators: parent–teen relationship, overparenting, and helicopter parenting. Notably, authoritative parenting was positively associated with location tracking through stronger parent–teen relationships, while authoritarian and permissive parenting styles showed indirect associations with tracking through increased overparenting. Conclusions: This study challenges binary conceptions of parental surveillance as either beneficial or harmful, highlighting instead its context-dependent nature as a practice that can stem from both caring and controlling parenting, albeit through distinct psychological pathways. Implications: These findings carry important implications for parenting education and digital literacy. Rather than framing tracking technologies as inherently controlling, interventions should attend to the relational climate in which tracking occurs.