U.S. parents' intentions to use anti-bullying apps: Insights from a comprehensive model

Cyberbullying has become a prominent risk for youth and an increasing concern for parents. To help parents reduce their child's cyberbullying risk, anti-bullying apps (ABAs)—mobile applications for identifying and preventing instances of cyberbullying—have been developed in recent years. Given that ABAs are an emerging technology, limited research has been conducted to understand the factors predicting parents' intentions to use them. Drawing on three interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, a sample of parents in the U.S. recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk completed an online survey to assess parents' knowledge of, attitudes about, and intentions to use ABAs. Participants also rated the importance of a range of ABA functions and provided information about their child's social media use and bullying history. A series of path analyses revealed that the importance parents placed on an app's ability to provide information about their child's cyberbullying risk predicted more positive attitudes toward ABAs and greater perceived usefulness of them. Stronger intentions to use ABAs were predicted by greater cyberbullying concern, greater importance of social recommendations, greater perceived usefulness, more positive attitudes toward the apps, and lower ratings of the importance of ease of use. These findings shed light on the factors predicting parents' intentions to use ABAs and the app features they view as most important. Crucial directions for future research and implications for anti-bullying efforts are discussed.