Framing Adolescent Sexting: How Media Discourses Influence Parents' Attitudes and Practices Towards Sexting

Abstract

In recent years, adolescent sexting has garnered popular media attention that often frames it as a new societal concern for the youth, heightening parents’ worries. While a risk-focused, deviance discourse emphasizes the dangers of sexting, an alternative normalcy discourse suggests that it can be part of adolescents’ sexual development and intimate communication. However, little is known about how different media portrayals of sexting shape parental responses. To address this gap, this experimental study examined the effect of a normalcy vs. a deviance discourse on parents’ attitudes and intended practices towards sexting. We examined effects on both positive (i.e., autonomy-supportive mediation, trust) and negative parenting practices (i.e., internet control, controlling mediation, overprotection). Additionally, we investigated the moderating role of adolescents’ gender, parents’ perceived pressure to be a perfect parent, and parents’ traditional values. The pre-registered study included 312 French-speaking Belgian parents (48.30% mothers) of adolescents (Mage = 16.73, 48% girls). Exposure to a normalcy discourse predicted more positive parental attitudes toward sexting, while specifically for parents experiencing higher pressure to be a perfect parent, exposure to a normalcy discourse elicited significantly lower levels of negative parenting practices. Parents with stronger traditional beliefs reported more negative parenting practices, regardless of the media discourse, while no significant differences emerged between parents of boys and parents of girls. These findings reveal the potential of more nuanced media representations of teen sexuality in shaping parents’ responses to adolescent sexting, underscoring the role of parents’ perceived pressures and traditional values.