Is sexting bad for adolescent girls’ psychological well-being? A longitudinal assessment in middle to late adolescence

Abstract

Sexting, the digital transmission of sexual messages and images, has become a topic of increased interest and concern. Drawing largely on cross-sectional studies, the literature on associations between sexting and psychosocial outcomes remains inconsistent. The current longitudinal study investigated associations between adolescent girls’ sexting and two indicators of psychological well-being: symptoms of depression/anxiety and self-esteem. Responses were collected from a panel sample of 859 female Croatian secondary-school students over a 20-month period, across five classroom-based data collection points. Multi-domain latent growth curve modeling indicated that sexting dynamics were unrelated to changes in psychological well-being. Adverse family environment and, to a lesser extent, participants’ peer conformism were related to more frequent sexting and lower levels of psychological well-being. Our findings support the notion that in general adolescent girls’ sexting may be a (non-pathological) part of sexual development during middle to late adolescence in today’s digital age.