Implications of Parenting Behaviour and Adolescent Attachment for Understanding Adolescent Sexting
Date
2017
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Publisher
University of Windsor (Canada)
Abstract
The present study examined the nature and prevalence of adolescent sexting, and its
relation to parenting behaviours and adolescents’ attachment, in a sample of Canadian
adolescents. Participants were 305 adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age (158
females, 147 males). Adolescents completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire assessing
sexting-related behaviours and experiences, attachment, temperament, and experiences of
parental warmth, parental-psychological control, parent-child communication, and
parental monitoring. The analyses revealed that, among Canadian adolescents, sending and
receiving sexual messages and images was more common among older adolescents. There
were no gender differences in rates of sending and receiving sexual messages or images,
however, males reported forwarding sexual images, and asking others for sexual messages
and sexual images, more frequently than did females. Females reported more frequently
being asked to send sexual messages and sexual images. Sending and receiving sexual
messages and images were more common among adolescents who were in a romantic
relationship, and adolescents most commonly cited a relationship partner, or someone
with whom they hoped to begin a relationship, as the individual(s) with whom they had
sent and/or received sexual messages and images. Results also revealed that better parentchild
communication was predictive of lower frequency of adolescent sending of sexual
images, and that higher report of adolescent attachment avoidance was predictive of higher
frequency of adolescent sending of sexual images. Although parental warmth and parental
psychological control did not directly predict adolescent sending of sexual images, these
variables were found to have indirect effects on sending sexual images through attachment
avoidance. These findings suggest that parent-child communication has a relatively
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stronger, more direct relation with adolescent sending of sexual images, but that parental
warmth and psychological control may also influence this behaviour through formation of
adolescents’ working models of relationships. A thematic analysis of participants’
responses to an open-ended question revealed that most adolescents have had passive
involvement in sexting, although many also reported use of sexting for a social purpose
(i.e., flirtation) or a negative experience with sexting. These findings help to clarify the
social and relational processes that are influential in adolescent sending of sexual images,
which provides useful information for the development of public health education
programs and directions for future research
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Keywords
adolescent sexual behavior, parents' knowledge, prevalence, International Resources, Canada
Citation
Norman, J. (2017). Implications of Parenting Behaviour and Adolescent Attachment for Understanding Adolescent Sexting (Doctoral dissertation, University of Windsor (Canada)).