Exploring which factors contribute to teens' participation in sexting

Abstract An increasing proportion of adolescents appear to see sexting as something normal, despite the serious consequences it can have on their well-being. Only little is known about the factors that facilitate teens' participation, and even less about whether the same factors influence different types of sexting behaviors – sending, receiving, forwarding, or receiving via an intermediary – in different ways. Here we analyze whether the need for popularity, participation in cybergossip, social competence, the level of normalization of sexting and willingness to sext predicts to what extent teens participate in the activity, while at the same time investigating how gender influences this participation. In total, 1431 (46.4% female) Spanish adolescents, aged 11–18 years, participated in a two-wave longitudinal study with a time lag of four months. All factors under study predicted involvement in all four sexting behaviors, but the relative importance of the factors differed depending on the behavior, and between boys and girls. Participation in cybergossip and the need for popularity were the two most important factors for girls. For boys, the levels of normalization and willingness to sext mattered most. Our results highlight the importance of including these factors and accounting for gender differences in sexting prevention strategies.