Early adolescents spend a lot of time online, yet little is currently known about the links between parental rule-setting, adolescent
disclosure about online activities, and whether social anxiety may interfere with these processes. Using a longitudinal sample of
526 adolescents (269 girls; M age = 14.00) and their parents (79% mothers, M age = 43.66), the results from the current study
showed low correspondence between parental knowledge, adolescent disclosure, as well as parents’ and adolescents’ ratings
of parental legitimacy to set boundaries about online activities. High social anxiety interacted with high adolescent-rated parental
rule-setting in predicting the least disclosure about chatting with strangers and posting online content over time. Also, high social
anxiety interacted with low parent-rated control to predict more adolescent disclosure about chatting with strangers and money
spent online over time. Thus, social anxiety and parental rule-setting moderated the links between disclosure and knowledge for
some early adolescent online activities. Our results conflict with the value typically placed on parental rule-setting in online
contexts, at least for socially anxious adolescents.

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• Early adolescent disclosure and parental knowledge regarding online activities: Social anxiety and parental rule-setting as moderators