Sexting Behaviour among Teenagers in Lagos Island: Imperative for Therapeutic Interventions

Recent studies show that sexting is becoming a deviant behaviour among Nigerian teenagers yet the factors associated with sexting behaviour remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between parental bonding and body image on sexting behaviour among teenagers randomly drawn from business centres, shopping malls, and eateries located in Lagos Island. Correlational survey design was adopted for the study. One thousand three hundred and thirty-four teenagers consisting 650 males (48.7 %) 684 females (51.3%) with age range of 10 – 19 years and mean age of 14.5 years participated in the study. Three instruments, used for data collection were Sex and Tech questionnaire (r=.68); Parker Parental Bonding Instrument (r=.71) and Cash Appearance Schemas Inventory (r=.73). Results show that 30.8 % of the surveyed teenagers have either sent or received sexually suggestive content via E-mail, IM, text, and Skype while 27.1 % have exchanged sexy personal messages/pictures/videos. Four hundred and seventy-one respondents (35.3%) stated that the major motivation for sexting was “sexy” presents to boy friends/girl friends. Further, there was perfect negative relationship between parental bonding and sexting behaviour (r=-.704, p<0.05) and a moderate inverse relationship between body image and sexting behaviour (r= -.444, p<.05). The outcomes of this study suggest the need for parents, Counselling Psychologists and other stakeholders to educate teenagers on the detrimental consequences that could arise from sexting. Parents and guardians should also monitor phone usage to ensure internet safety as well as support teenagers to build positive attitude towards their bodies.