The Role of Body Image Factors in Swedish Adolescents’ Sexting Behaviors

Abstract

The current study tested a model in which three body image factors were assumed to be associated with adolescents’ sexting (sending nude or semi-nude pictures and/or video clips) to either romantic partners or strangers. We hypothesized that lower appearance esteem, more body surveillance, and more dysfunctional appearance beliefs would be associated with a higher likelihood of sexting. We also examined the effects of pubertal timing in the model, along with assessing the moderating effect of gender on the pathways to sexting. A questionnaire study was conducted with 1543 adolescents (girls = 791, 50.7%; boys = 772, 49.3%), ages between 13 and 16 years. The results from structural equation modeling indicated that girls’ and boys’ dysfunctional appearance beliefs were most consistently associated with sexting with romantic partners and strangers. Body surveillance also predicted sexting with strangers, but only for boys. Contrary to our hypotheses, appearance esteem was not significantly associated with sexting. Early-maturing girls and boys were more likely to sext with either partner. Girls reporting earlier pubertal timing were more likely to sext with romantic partners via the mediation of appearance beliefs. The findings from this study provide novel evidence of the complex interplay between body image and adolescents’ sexting, emphasizing that, in general, dysfunctional appearance beliefs seem to be more important for adolescents’ sexting compared to body surveillance and appearance esteem.