Social Networking Site Password Sharing and Account Monitoring as Online Surveillance

Abstract

Although suggested in previous research, password sharing as a form of online surveillance has yet to be empirically established. This study examines whether social networking site (SNS) password sharing is distinct from general online surveillance, and how it is related to age, relationship satisfaction, online surveillance, and SNS jealousy. An online survey of 474 adults in current and former romantic relationships determined that, not only are password sharing and online surveillance operationally discrete, but also password sharing is multidimensional: (a) password sharing involves one's partner seeking their SNS passwords from them and (b) account monitoring occurs when an individual requests their partner's SNS passwords and/or accesses their partner's accounts to view content. Each aspect of password sharing is uniquely related to demographic and relationship characteristics. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Introduction

Sharing one's computer, e-mail, or social networking site (SNS) password with someone they know puts that individual at risk of having their identity stolen, being cyberbullied, privacy violations, and being surveilled.^1,2 Yet, password sharing is not uncommon. For example, 16–20 percent of American children shared SNS passwords with friends, concurrent with the 17 percent of Australian children and teenagers sharing e-mail and SNS passwords.^2,3 Furthermore, 75 percent of Europeans knew their colleagues' passwords or vice versa, or were willing to provide them.⁴ The above-described dangers inherent in password sharing, combined with the frequency in which this online behavior still occurs, mean this intriguing paradox is worthy of in-depth exploration. This study examines sharing passwords for one's own private, single-user SNS accounts and its links with online surveillance and other relevant demographic and relational characteristics.

SNS Password Sharing as Online Surveillance

SNS password sharing is a form of online surveillance, which are deliberate, secretive technological behaviors to learn about someone's activities.⁵ However, unlike general online surveillance, which Tokunaga argues is a form of negative relationship maintenance that is related to decreased relationship satisfaction,⁶ SNS password sharing by romantic partners is not solely destructive. As Bevan noted,⁵ across four studies,^7–10 SNS password sharing was a common, accepted teen dating practice.

Although SNS password sharing could be intimate partner violence (IPV), teenagers did not view it as such if information accessed remained private and monitoring was not excessive.⁵ Indeed, teenage participants often viewed password sharing as an act of trust and mutual love, even when motivated by jealousy and insecurity.^7–10 This is unsurprising, given that teenagers have grown up sharing passwords with their parents. As such, teenagers “have concluded that to trust means to share. And to share means to trust”.^11(p1061)

SNS Password Sharing Versus Online Surveillance

SNS password sharing is both a form of, and distinct from, general online surveillance. Password sharing has either been assessed by focus groups,^7–10 by asking participants if they have shared passwords or not,^3,4,12 or with how many they have shared.² To fully investigate romantic partner SNS password sharing, including providing a requested password, asking for a partner's password, and monitoring accounts, a multi-item scale is needed. Brem et al. included two such items in their jealousy and surveillance Facebook Mate Retention Tactic Inventory (FMRTI) subscale. Almost 20 percent of their adult dating sample asked their partners for their Facebook passwords and just over 33 percent snooped in their partner's private Facebook chat and/or messages.¹³ RQ1 asks if creating a comprehensive scale and comparing it to the remaining FMRTI nine surveillance subscale items will result in discrete SNS password sharing and general online surveillance variables:

RQ1: Is SNS password sharing operationally distinct from general online surveillance?

Based on qualitative research, password sharing will likely share unique relationships with age, and relationship characteristics such as SNS jealousy and relationship satisfaction. Although research focuses on child/teen password sharing,^2,3,7–10 Whitty et al. found that older individuals were more likely to share Internet passwords.¹² However, in Happ et al., age was negatively correlated to revealing one's password.⁴

In addition to these inconsistent age findings, password sharing has not been empirically related to SNS jealousy, or becoming threatened in response to a romantic partner's SNS activities,^5,14 even though Facebook jealousy is positively correlated with Brem et al.'s jealousy and surveillance scale variable containing the two password sharing items.¹³ Furthermore, relationship satisfaction, as an overarching relational marker encompassing the trust, love, commitment, and intimacy mentioned in password sharing research,^7–11 could be either positively or negatively related to SNS password sharing in an adult romantic partner sample. In addition, across teen dating focus groups, jealousy is both a reason for and consequence of SNS password sharing/account monitoring.^7–10 As such, RQ2 investigates these three characteristics and general online surveillance:

RQ2: How is SNS password sharing related to (a) age, (b) online surveillance, (c) SNS jealousy, and (d) relationship satisfaction?

Methods

Participants and procedures

Adults (N = 474) were currently (n = 315) or formerly (n = 145) in romantic relationships in the prior 2 years and both partners used at least one SNS (age range: 18–63, M = 22.78, SD = 5.24). Respondents were primarily female (n = 370), university students (n = 320), white/Caucasian (n = 316), and heterosexual (n = 393). Most relationships were serious/exclusively dating (n = 283), and lasted just under 3 years (range: 1–516, M = 35.13 months, SD = 54.37). See Table 1 for SNS usage for participants and their romantic partners (estimated).

Table 1.

Social Networking Site Usage Descriptive Statistics for Participants and Romantic Partners

SNS usage variable	Participant	Romantic partner (estimated)
Time per day on all SNSs
Less than 10 minutes	5	18
10–30 minutes	36	52
31–59 minutes	82	91
1–2 hours	144	154
2–3 hours	137	99
More than 3 hours	69	59
Total	473	473
Primary SNS
Instagram	218	172
Facebook (including Facebook Messenger)	120	151
Snapchat	109	102
Twitter	20	29
Other	6	13
LinkedIn	1	5
Tumblr	0	1
Total	474	473
Number of current SNS accounts
1	7	27
2	40	77
3	133	131
4	157	144
5	74	67
6	39	18
7	17	4
8	5	4
9	1	0
Total	473	472
M (SD)	3.99 (1.34)	3.50 (1.31)

Demographic statistics about romantic partners are provided as perceived estimates by study participants.

SNS, social networking site.

Recruitment involved having communication subject pool students (n = 126) complete the study and communication students recruit participants (n = 348) through social media. Compensation was not offered, except for subject pool research credit. The ∼20-minute Qualtrics online survey was anonymous.

Measures

Password sharing

A 6-item Likert-type scale was developed using two items from the Facebook mate retention tactics jealousy and surveillance subscale,¹³ and four items were developed using prior qualitative research.^7–10

Online surveillance

Nine items from the FMRTI jealousy and surveillance Likert-type subscale¹³ assessed general online surveillance. For both scales, participants focused on their romantic partner's estimated primary SNS site (1 = never, 7 = always; α = 0.88, M = 1.82, SD = 0.98; see Table 2 for additional information).

Table 2.

Principal Component Analyses Testing Research Question One

	Password sharing scale
	Factor loading one	Factor loading two
Account monitoring factor (eigenvalue = 3.46, 57.64 percent of variance explained)
	M = 1.67, SD = 1.16, α = 0.88
1. Logged into my romantic partner's SNS account to see their activity	0.93	−0.03
2. Snooped through my romantic partner's personal SNS messages and/or chat	0.91	−0.16
3. Asked my romantic partner to give me their SNS passwords	0.68	0.26
4. Used my romantic partner's password to check their SNS account	0.87	0.08
Password sharing factor (eigenvalue = 1.52, 25.31 percent of variance explained)
	M = 2.53, SD = 2.12, α = 0.97
1. Shared SNS passwords with my romantic partner	0.32	0.98
2. Gave my SNS passwords to my romantic partner	0.31	0.98

	Password sharing and general online surveillance scales
	Factor loading one	Factor loading two	Factor loading three	Factor loading four
General online surveillance factor one (eigenvalue = 6.57, 43.78 percent of variance explained)
1. Told my romantic partner I did not want them to friend a person who was a threat to our relationship	0.81	−0.04	0.04	−0.07
2. Asked my romantic partner to take down pictures of their ex-partner on their page	0.75	0.03	−0.02	0.09
3. Threatened to break up with my romantic partner if they talked to a person who was a threat to our relationship	0.83	0.04	0.07	−0.02
4. Threatened to break up with my romantic partner if they talked to a specific person	0.73	0.04	0.11	−0.09
5. Asked my romantic partner to unfriend and/or block someone	0.86	−0.06	−0.07	−0.08
Password sharing factor (eigenvalue = 2.21, 14.75 percent of variance explained)
1. Shared SNS passwords with my romantic partner	0.00	0.97	0.03	−0.03
2. Gave my SNS passwords to my romantic partner	−0.01	0.97	0.02	−0.02
General online surveillance factor two (eigenvalue = 1.17, 7.78 percent of variance explained)
1. Checked my romantic partner's tagged social networking statuses to make sure my romantic partner was where they said they would be	0.11	−0.09	0.64	−0.13
2. Talked to another person to make my romantic partner jealous	0.10	0.09	0.74	0.08
3. Became angry when my romantic partner talked to another person	0.34	0.00	0.56	−0.09
4. Hid my feelings about something that upset me on my romantic partner's account	−0.14	0.00	0.83	−0.04
Account monitoring factor (eigenvalue = 1.01, 6.70 percent of variance explained)
1. Logged into my romantic partner's SNS account to see their activity	−0.04	−0.04	0.05	−0.93
2. Snooped through my romantic partner's personal SNS messages and/or chat	0.13	−0.10	0.20	−0.71
3. Asked my romantic partner to give me their SNS passwords	0.12	0.21	−0.13	−0.70
4. Used my romantic partner's password to check their SNS account	−0.03	0.05	−0.01	−0.92

Factor loadings in italics within columns indicate the factor onto which that item has loaded.

SNS jealousy

The 5-item Likert-type Facebook jealousy scale measured SNS jealousy.¹⁴ Participants were asked “After viewing your romantic partner's primary SNS, how likely are you to experience the following?” (1 = very unlikely, 7 = very likely; e.g., “Be suspicious about the private messages that your romantic partner sends”; α = 0.86, M = 2.74, SD = 1.59).

Relationship satisfaction

A 6-item Likert scale assessed relationship satisfaction (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree; “My relationship is close to ideal”; α = 0.93, M = 5.78, SD = 1.34).¹⁵

Results

Analytic plan

For RQ1, principal components analyses (PCAs) with direct oblimin rotation were conducted first on the 6-item password sharing scale and then on password sharing and general online surveillance scale items. Factors with an eigenvalue of 1.00 or above were investigated; items load onto a primary factor if >0.60 and <0.40 on all other factors.

Partial correlations tested RQ2, with four variables controlled for based on two-tailed correlation analyses (Table 3): recruitment type, relationship status, relationship length, and time per day on SNSs. Although general online surveillance divided into two factors, a single variable was tested to remain consistent with the original scale and because the factors were not conceptually discernible.

Table 3.

Two-Tailed Correlations Between Study Variables

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1. Password sharing	0.35^***	0.09	0.09	0.04	0.19^***	−0.10^*	−0.19^***	0.25^***	−0.01	−0.03
2. Account monitoring	1	−0.07	0.63^***	0.45^***	−0.04	0.06	−0.01	0.01	0.03	0.17^***
3. Participant age		1	−0.16^**	−0.11^*	0.05	−0.28^***	−0.19^***	0.84^***	−0.29^***	0.29^***
4. General online surveillance			1	0.70^***	−0.17^***	0.23^***	0.13^**	−0.09	0.08	0.23^***
5. SNS jealousy				1	−0.26^***	0.16^**	0.20^***	−0.07	0.05	0.18^***
6. Relationship satisfaction					1	−0.03	−0.48^***	0.11^*	−0.02	−0.07
7. Form of recruitment						1	0.25^***	−0.19^***	0.05	0.15^**
8. Relationship status							1	−0.20^***	0.08	0.14^**
9. Relationship length								1	−0.20^***	−0.20^***
10. Number of SNS accounts									1	0.28^***
11. Time per day on all SNSs										1

p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001. Form of recruitment (1 = social media and 2 = subject pool), relationship status (1 = current and 2 = former).

Research question one

For the first PCA, two internally consistent factors emerged: a 4-item account monitoring factor, and a 2-item password sharing factor. The second PCA revealed four factors: the identical account monitoring and password sharing factors, and two online surveillance factors (Table 2).

Followup one-sample t tests determined that online surveillance occurred significantly less than password sharing, t(472) = 7.28, p < 0.001, and significantly more than account monitoring, t(472) = −2.94, p < 0.01. Password sharing occurs significantly more than account monitoring, t(472) = −16.30, p < 0.001. For RQ1, password sharing is operationally distinct from general online surveillance. There are also two discrete password sharing elements; both are considered for RQ2.

Research question two

Password sharing was negatively related to age (r = −0.19, p < 0.001) and positively related to general online surveillance (r = 0.15, p < 0.01), SNS jealousy (r = 0.12, p < 0.05), and relationship satisfaction (r = 0.11, p < 0.05). Account monitoring was unrelated to age (r = −0.07, p = 0.16) and relationship satisfaction (r = −0.06, p = 0.24), but positively related to general online surveillance (r = 0.64, p < 0.001) and SNS jealousy (r = 0.45, p < 0.05). Using Fisher's r-to-z transformations, the correlations for online surveillance (z = −9.41, p < 0.001) and SNS jealousy (z = −6.08, p < 0.001) are both significantly higher for account monitoring than for password sharing.

Discussion

This study sought to expand and clarify SNS password sharing. For RQ1, password sharing was distinct from general online surveillance. The newly developed 6-item scale measures (a) password sharing, or providing SNS passwords to a romantic partner and (b) account monitoring, or requesting SNS passwords from a romantic partner and monitoring their SNS accounts. The emergence of these two moderately related (r = 0.35) factors is evidence for the importance of more comprehensive measurement of SNS password sharing.

The multidimensionality of password sharing is consistent with previous research. Two studies discussed account monitoring as a primary theme regarding technology use in teen dating relationships, with password sharing mentioned only early on as a gateway to this more serious behavior.^7,9 In Lucero et al., password sharing/account monitoring were the two most frequent (and separate) socially interactive technology actions.⁸ Thus, this 6-item scale to measure SNS password sharing and account monitoring in future research seems to accurately assess two distinct forms of online surveillance and each can occur absent the other (i.e., you can share your password without monitoring your partner's account, and vice versa).

For RQ2, these two online surveillance behaviors are also qualitatively different. Asking for a romantic partner's SNS passwords is more likely when younger and relationally satisfied, and if there is more general online surveillance and SNS jealousy. However, when monitoring a partner's SNS accounts, age and relationship satisfaction are unrelated. Furthermore, account monitoring is positively linked to general online surveillance and SNS jealousy, correlations that are significantly larger than for SNS password sharing.

Password sharing

The SNS password sharing findings are generally consistent with previous research,^1–3,7–10 as younger people tend to engage in this activity. Furthermore, sharing SNS passwords with a romantic partner is paradoxically both relationally satisfying and SNS jealousy triggering. This pattern validates teen dating qualitative findings, where password sharing is viewed (often in the same breath) as “a mutual token of love and trust and as a kind of insurance policy against unfaithfulness.”^10(p83)

The two items comprising this scale state that the romantic partner requests the participant's passwords, making the romantic partner more active and the participant more passive. This partner's request, then, may be attributed by the individual as a show of interest or a step forward in the relationship, possibly explaining the relationship satisfaction findings. Future research should disentangle these complex findings, perhaps by attribution theory or any number of interpersonal goal theories or perspectives.

Account monitoring

The account monitoring behavior profile is fully negative, as requesting the same or actually viewing the partner's SNS content is strongly linked only to negative relationship characteristics. As elements of account monitoring constitute a technological form of IPV⁷ or abuse⁸ that is frequently either the result of or impetus for jealousy, its stark contrast from password sharing is not surprising. This link between SNS jealousy and SNS password sharing/account monitoring (as a cause, correlate, or effect) may explain the strong negative relational correlates: the individual never intended to actually use their partner's SNS passwords until they needed to, due to a real or imagined third-party relational threat. In addition, unlike teens who view account monitoring more ambivalently,^7–10 the current adult sample may recognize it for the damaging form of online surveillance that it is. These possibilities should be fleshed out in future research.

Limitations and Conclusion

This study has several limitations. It is atheoretical, which is unfortunately consistent with other online surveillance research. As noted above, attribution theory, the investment model, or an interpersonal goal theory may be helpful frameworks.¹⁵ Second, participant age trended young, averaging just under 23. Future research should oversample older adults.

In conclusion, this initial exploration of SNS password sharing for private, single-owner accounts revealed a great deal about this form of online surveillance, most notably its multidimensional nature, and that it can be quantitatively measured by a reliable Likert-type scale. The distinction between SNS password sharing and account monitoring is noteworthy, as it validates prior qualitative research,^7–10 and offers two distinct elements of online surveillance that are related to demographic and relationship characteristics in unique ways. The utility and flexibility of this scale allow researchers to not only understand if individuals are engaging in password sharing and account monitoring but also how and to what extent each online behavior may be separately occurring. As these findings indicate that SNS account monitoring is more relationally harmful than password sharing, how each impacts different types of romantic relationships and partners at various life stages is clearly deserving of further scholarly attention. As this research area grows, the benefits and drawbacks of SNS password sharing and account monitoring will also emerge and can ultimately assist romantic partners who engage in these unique forms of online surveillance.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges and thanks Maya Vahid, Tessa Urbanovich, and the students of COM 498-01 and COM 498-02 for assisting with data collection.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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