According to Kaplan Test Prep’s latest survey on social networking trends and practices among today’s teens, 35 percent of teens whose parents are on Facebook report that they are actually not online friends with them. Of that group, 38 percent say the reason they are not friends is because they’ve ignored mom or dad’s friend request. But even as some teens ignore their parents’ friend requests, 82 percent say that mom and dad are either “very involved” (44 percent) or “somewhat involved” (38 percent) in their academic lives.

“Although for generations, high school students have come to accept and even embrace their parents’ involvement in their academic work and the college admissions process, Facebook continues to be the new frontier in the ever-evolving relationship between parent and child,” said Kristen Campbell, executive director, college prep programs, Kaplan Test Prep.

“When teens ignore a parent’s friend request, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are hiding something, but it could mean that this is one particular part of their life where they want to exert their independence,” Campbell said. “Alternatively, some parents and their children may actually mutually decide to keep their Facebook lives private from one another.”

Other key Kaplan Test Prep survey results include:

• 16 percent of teens who are friends with their parents on Facebook report that being friends with them was a pre-condition for being allowed to create their own profile.

• 38 percent say that if their parents were able to see their progress in their SAT or ACT prep classes – just like they track their progress in school – that they would have put more effort in.

A separate May 2010 Kaplan Test Prep survey of 973 high school students reported that of teens who said their parents were on Facebook, a much higher percentage (56 percent) provided their parents with full profile access – status updates, party photos and all – than with no access at all (34 percent). Only 9 percent of teens gave their parents limited access.

The survey was conducted by e-mail of 2,313 Kaplan Test Prep students who took the SAT and/or ACT between June 2010 and December 2010.

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