Teenagers are abandoning Facebook in large numbers, citing their parents as the biggest deterrent to their using the service, a European study found.

"Facebook is not just on the slide -- it is basically dead and buried," researcher Daniel Miller, professor of material culture at University College London, said.

A study of teens 16 to 18 years old in eight EU countries found as parents and older users saturate Facebook, its younger users are shifting to alternative platforms, the Guardian reported Friday.

The key age group of older teenagers is moving from Facebook to other services such as Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat, researchers conducting the Global Social Media Impact Study said.

"Mostly they feel embarrassed to even be associated with it," Miller said. "Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives.

"What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person's decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mum sends you a friend request," Miller said.

"It is nothing new that young people care about style and status in relation to their peers, and Facebook is simply not cool anymore," he said.