When adolescents share their passwords with their friends, they are putting themselves at an increased risk for online abuse victimization. Surprisingly, very little empirical research has tried to understand the context and underlying motivations of adolescent password sharing. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the prevalence and context of two related behaviors: 1) password sharing and 2) accessing a best friend’s phone without permission. We draw on both quantitative data and responses to open-ended questions that were collected among 2582 adolescents (n_girls = 1432, 56.6%) with a mean age of 13.45 years old (SD = 0.90) in the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium. Around half of the respondents in our sample had shared a password of a social media account or the PIN code of their mobile phone with their best friend, and 9.6% had accessed their best friend’s phone without their consent. When investigating the underlying motivations for password sharing, our study revealed that passwords were mainly shared as a token of trust and friendship. Passwords were often exchanged reciprocally. Girls were significantly more likely to share their passwords or to access their best friend’s phone without permission than boys. The respondents justified breaking into a best friend’s phone by passing it off as a ‘joke’, or they claimed that they wanted to surprise their best friend. We discuss implications for industry, practice, and we present a research agenda for future work.

当青少年与朋友分享他们的密码时，他们将自己置于在线滥用受害的风险中。令人惊讶的是，很少有实证研究试图了解青少年密码共享的背景和潜在动机。本研究使用混合方法，旨在通过检查两种相关行为的普遍性和背景来弥补文献中的这一空白：1) 共享密码和 2) 未经许可访问最好朋友的手机。我们利用在 2582_名 平均年龄为 13.45 岁的青少年（n 个_女孩= 1432，56.6%）中收集的定量数据和对开放式问题的回答（SD = 0.90) 在比利时的荷兰语区。在我们的样本中，大约一半的受访者与他们最好的朋友分享了社交媒体帐户的密码或手机的 PIN 码，9.6% 的受访者在未经他们同意的情况下访问了他们最好的朋友的手机。在调查共享密码的潜在动机时，我们的研究表明，共享密码主要是作为信任和友谊的象征。密码经常是相互交换的。女孩比男孩更有可能在未经许可的情况下分享她们的密码或访问她们最好朋友的手机。受访者通过将其伪装成“笑话”来证明闯入最好朋友的手机是正当的，或者他们声称他们想给最好的朋友一个惊喜。我们讨论对行业、实践、