Clinical psychologist Dr. Mark McConville was shocked when he learned from a recent poll that half of parents location track their adult children aged 18 to 25. "It's almost never a good thing," said McConville, author of Failure to Launch: Why Your Twentysomething Hasn't Grown Up...and What to Do About It, of the parental surveillance. Location tracking an 18- to 25-year-old, he added, is most often an "index" of "parental anxiety" that doesn't "contribute in some concrete way to the development of the child."
You May Also Like
Those may sound like harsh words to parents who follow their young adult children's every step. Yet the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, which surveyed 1,542 parents on the topic earlier this year, suggest McConville is onto something. Parents seek peace of mindRoughly two-thirds of parents who location track do so for peace of mind or in case of an emergency, according to the survey. The scenarios that make parents more likely to check their child's location? Standard young adult activities like being out late at night or in an unfamiliar place, hailing a rideshare or taxi service, or spending time with someone they don't know. Another 21 and 17 percent, respectively, use location tracking to know whether it's a good time to call or to stay abreast of their child's activities and whereabouts. Nine percent want confirmation that their child frequents places that meet their approval. Eleven percent said they had no specific reason for the surveillance. Among parents who track, almost three-quarters said they always use a location-tracking app or software. Tracking without consentMcConville wasn't the only one shocked by the findings. Mott Poll co-director Sarah Clark told Mashable that the prevalence of tracking surprised her. But the fact that more than 50 percent of parents who track don't give their adult child a say in the matter also dismayed Clark."It's one thing if we have a conversation about it," Clark said. "It's another thing for parents just to do it without a lot of input from their young adult kids."Tracking isn't a surefire reprieve from parental anxiety, either. Nearly a quarter of the poll respondents who track said following their child can make them more anxious than reassured.
