In a new article published in the Online Self-disclosure and Privacy special issue of Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, SIMLAB researchers Murat Kezer, Barış Sevi, Zeynep Cemalcılar, and Lemi Baruh discuss age differences concerning Facebook users' privacy attitudes and privacy management. The article compares three age groups  (18-40, 41-65, 65+) in terms of their tendency to self-disclose on Facebook, their privacy attitudes, privacy literacy and use of privacy protective measures.

The study reports that young adults are more likely than other age groups to self-disclose on Facebook; yet, they are also the age group that is most likely to utilize privacy protective measures on Facebook. Furthermore, using a multidimensional approach to privacy attitude measurement, the study reports that while young adults are more likely to be concerned about their own privacy, mature adults tend to be more concerned about others’ privacy. Finally, the findings of the study suggest that the impact of privacy attitudes on privacy-protective behaviors is strongest among mature adults. 

Here is the link to the full article.

We thank the editors of the special issue Michel Walrave, Sonja Utz, Alexander P. Schouten, Wannes Heirman for the opportunity. 

Articles in the special issue are accessible from this link.

As one of our first research project in SIMLab, we (Lemi Baruh & Zeynep Cemalcılar) had been working on developing a multidimensional privacy orientation scale. The scale is summarised in an article to be published in November 2014 in Personality and Individual Differences.

A free copy of the article is available until September 14, 2014.

Abstract
This study summarizes the development and validation of a multidimensional privacy orientation scale designed for measuring privacy attitudes of Social Network Site (SNS) users. Findings confirm the existence of four dimensions: (1) belief in the value of “privacy as a right”; (2) “other-contingent privacy”; (3) “concern about own informational privacy” and (4) “concern about privacy of others.” Moreover, a segmentation of SNS users based on these attitude scores reveals three types of users: (1) privacy advocates, who are concerned about both their own and other people’s privacy; (2) privacy individualists, who are concerned mostly about their own privacy, and (3) privacy indifferents, whose score on all dimensions are lower than other segments.The results indicate that the four privacy orientation dimensions and three user segments predict key differences in terms of privacy protective behavior, information disclosure, and viewing personal information of others.