Web journal First Monday recently surveyed over 1,000 parents of children ages 10 to 14, and found that parents are often complicit in helping their underage children circumvent the 13-year-old age restriction and create accounts on Facebook.

Some of the findings: "Among the 84 percent of parents who were aware when their child first created the account, 64 percent helped create the account. Among those who knew that their child joined below the age of 13—even if the child is now older than 13—over two-thirds (68 percent) indicated that they helped their child create the account."

The study also found that parents are very concerned about issues that COPPA— the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act—is meant to address, but that many feel that parental oversight of kids' online activities, as opposed to enforced age restrictions such as those on Facebook, is a better way to protect their children. From the study's conclusion:

Instead of providing more tools to help parents and their children make informed choices, industry responses to COPPA have neglected parental preferences and have altogether restricted what is available for children to access. As a result, many parents now knowingly allow or assist their children in circumventing age restrictions on general-purpose sites through lying. By creating this environment, COPPA inadvertently hampers the very population it seeks to assist...

Last June, CR reported survey findings that of the 20 million minors who actively used Facebook in the past year, 7.5 million—or more than one-third—were younger than 13 and not supposed to be able to use the site.

Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the 'Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.' [First Monday]
Why Parents Lie to Let Kids Join Facebook [New York Times]