diff --git a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
index 9731438b287..bbbffb3e3f1 100644
--- a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ For notes on migrating to 2.x / 0.200.x see [the upgrade guide](doc/upgrade-to-2
 
 ### :bug: Bug Fixes
 
+* fix(instrumentation-http): respect requireParent flag when INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT is used [#4788](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/4788) @reberhardt7
+
 ### :books: Documentation
 
 ### :house: Internal
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
index 4c0f0173258..dc47fe0c891 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
@@ -979,7 +979,10 @@ export class HttpInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<HttpInstrumentation
     let span: Span;
     const currentSpan = trace.getSpan(ctx);
 
-    if (requireParent === true && currentSpan === undefined) {
+    if (
+      requireParent === true &&
+      (!currentSpan || !trace.isSpanContextValid(currentSpan.spanContext()))
+    ) {
       span = trace.wrapSpanContext(INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT);
     } else if (requireParent === true && currentSpan?.spanContext().isRemote) {
       span = currentSpan;
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
index 1c7d2aaa53c..1f6632c20d3 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   trace,
   Attributes,
   DiagConsoleLogger,
+  INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT,
 } from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import { NodeTracerProvider } from '@opentelemetry/sdk-trace-node';
 import {
@@ -1440,6 +1441,24 @@ describe('HttpInstrumentation', () => {
         );
       });
 
+      it('should not trace with INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT parent with requireParent options enabled', async () => {
+        instrumentation.disable();
+        instrumentation.setConfig({
+          requireParentforIncomingSpans: true,
+          requireParentforOutgoingSpans: true,
+        });
+        instrumentation.enable();
+        const root = trace.wrapSpanContext(INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT);
+        await context.with(trace.setSpan(context.active(), root), async () => {
+          const testPath = '/test/test';
+          await httpRequest.get(
+            `${protocol}://${hostname}:${serverPort}${testPath}`
+          );
+        });
+        const spans = memoryExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+        assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 0);
+      });
+
       it('should trace with parent with both requireParent options enabled', done => {
         instrumentation.disable();
         instrumentation.setConfig({