Social communication and digital privacy concerns of teenagers.

Despite the growing popularity of Social Networking Sites, little is known about how online behavior, especially that of younger teenagers who are often described as the generation of 'digital natives', is influenced. Abuses and breaches related to digital privacy, such as cyber-bullying and the gathering of 'Big Data' are also becoming ever more prominent, raising concern. Using insights from the Theory of Planned Behavior by Fishbein and Ajzen, this paper thus tries to examine how social communication relates to digital privacy concerns and protective online behavior. Furthermore, the aim of this study is to provide insight into how teenage boys and girls differ when addressing the digital sphere. To do so, questionnaire-based survey data collected from two German secondary schools in 2017 (N=340) is analyzed.