Sexting as a predictor of sexual behavior in a sample of Czech adolescents |
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| Authors: | Anna Ševčíková Lukas Blinka Kristian Daneback |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Masaryk University, Brno, the Czech Republicasevciko@fss.muni.cz;3. Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Masaryk University, Brno, the Czech Republic;4. Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, G?teborg, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this longitudinal study is to examine the relationship between teen sexting and offline sexual behavior. Using a sample of 1134 Czech adolescents aged 10–18 (Mage = 13.84, SD = 1.94, girls = 58.8%) from 55 schools, the latent growth model of offline sexual behavior with sexting as a time-varying covariate was employed. Participants differed at baseline for offline sexual behavior at both individual and school levels, and they varied in the growth rate of offline sexual behavior at the individual level. Only age and sensation seeking explained the variability at baseline of offline sexual behavior. The positive association between sexting and offline sexual behavior was not constant across time. However, sexting at baseline predicted offline sexual behavior a half year and one year later. Sexting may be treated as a precursor of offline sexual behavior. |
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| Keywords: | Adolescence online sexual behavior longitudinal sexual development |
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