The Prevalence and Predictors of Digital Proxy Behavior in the United States: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

As dependent adults increasingly require help with managing web-based financial and medical tasks, caregivers often step in to assist-sometimes informally, by sharing login credentials. Despite growing reliance on such digital proxies, limited data exist on the scale of this behavior, who performs it, and how they access accounts. Informal access practices may pose privacy and security risks and increase the potential for elder abuse.

Objective

The aim of this study is to quantify the prevalence of digital proxy behavior in the United States, identify demographic and caregiving predictors of proxy roles, and examine the extent of formal versus informal access methods in medical and financial domains.

Methods

A nationally representative survey (n=657) was co

SUBMITTER: Foong PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12360674 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature