Understanding sharenting as a risk factor for three forms of cybervictimization in children: Evidence from Romania

This study examines whether sharenting—parents' and caregivers' practices of sharing children's personal information online without their consent—increases the risk of cybervictimization among Romanian children aged 12–17. Using data from the EU Kids Online study 2020, we analyze sharenting as a predictor of general cybervictimization, cyberhate, and personal data misuse in two different settings. First, we examine sharenting's impact on cybervictimization in isolation. Second, theoretically framed by the social ecological model, we consider its impact when controlling for victim-related factors that can also predict cybervictimization.In the first analysis, our results indicate that sharenting, when examined independently, significantly predicts all three forms of cybervictimization. In the second analysis, when controlling for other individual-level factors, sharenting remains a significant predictor for cyberhate victimization and personal data misuse victimization, but not for general cybervictimization. Specifically, we found that older children with a lower level of digital skills are more likely to be victims of cyberhate when subjected to sharenting. We also found that emotionally vulnerable children who are exposed by parents through sharenting are at increased risk for personal data misuse victimization. General cybervictimization is predicted only by individual-level factors—such as having emotional difficulties, a tendency for self-disclosure, and lack of privacy concern—when controlling for sharenting.Our findings confirm sharenting's impact on children's online safety by establishing statistically significant connections between this parental practice and specific victimization outcomes in exposed children. Importantly, the study shows how sharenting may disproportionately affect already vulnerable children.