Assessing the role of self-control and technology access on adolescent sexting and sext dissemination

Abstract

Concern over juvenile sexting behaviors has increased substantially over the last decade, leading to criminological inquiries of the correlates of sexting. Evidence suggests that sexting behavior is associated with one's level of self-control, such that individuals with low self-control are unable to constrain themselves from acting on opportunities to offend. Though self-control is correlated with sexting, few have considered the ways that situational opportunities associated with technology access and self-control influence one another. This study attempted to address this gap in the literature through an analysis of 1328 adolescents enrolled in secondary schools located in a large metropolitan region of South Australia. The findings from three binary logistic regression models illustrated that low self-control, and online opportunity factors were associated with sexting behaviors, though self-control was mediated by the inclusion of opportunity measures. The implications of this analysis for our understanding of criminological theory is discussed in detail.