Perceived Attractiveness and Sexting Behavior Among Adolescents in Uganda: The Mediating Effect of Trust

Background and purpose: Sexting, broadly defined as “sexually explicit content communicated via text messages, smart phones, or visual and web 2.0 activities such as social networking sites” (Ringrose et al., 2012: p. 9), has received global attention among researchers, and practitioners because of the deleterious health and social consequences associated with the behavior.  However, up to now, only a handful of studies have adopted a theoretical approach to unearth reasons why adolescents sext. Drawing from the interdependence theory, this study uses data from Uganda to test competing hypotheses about how adolesent’s perceived attractiveness influence sexting behavior directly and indirectly through trust.

Methods: Data for the study was drawn from a cross-sectional probability sample of adolescents from five co-ed high schools in central Uganda (n= 442). Students completed an adapted version of the “Sex and Tech survey” (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy study, 2008). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effects of perceived attractiveness on adolescents' sexting behavior, through the mediating role of trust. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for the trust construct and tested the structural relationships with perceived attractiveness and sexting behavior.

Results: The final model had acceptable fit indices: χ²/df ratio = 2.16, RMSEA = .043 (90% CI [.027, .058]), CFI = .92, TLI = .95. Results show that perceived attractiveness (facial features) is directly positively associated with trust (β = .402, SE = .055, p < .001) and indirectly positively related to sending of naked pictures through the mediating role of trust (trustàsending of nude pictures: β = .268, SE = .096, p < .01). The association between perceived attractiveness (facial features)à asked for naked pictures, was through a chain of mediators perceived attractiveness (facial features) to trust to phone sex to asking for naked pictures. Perceived attractiveness (body shape) is directly positively associated with trust (β = .285, SE = .17, p < .001) and indirectly positively related to sending of naked pictures through the mediating role of trust (trust to sending of naked pictures: β = .265, SE = .09, p < .01). Perceived attractiveness (body shape) had a direct positive relationship with asking for nude pictures (β = .19, SE = .088, p = .05), but there was no significant indirect path related to asking for naked pictures (trust to asking of naked pictures: β = -.17, SE =.119, p= .148).

Conclusions and implications: Our study contributes to a theoretical understanding of why adolescents sext, by providing evidence from a different geographical context which inform school-based interventions. The findings show that adolescents who perceive themselves as attractive and trust their partners are more likely to sext since they may not foresee the vulnerability of sharing their naked pictures. Although sexting represents a developmental transition from childhood to adulthood, the risks associated with the behavior among adolescents cannot be disputed. Therefore, adolescents should receive training on safer sexting strategies and lessons on how trust does not amount to consent.