The protective role of parent-child communication: how disclosure moderates the link between risk profiles and adolescent sexting behaviors

Introduction: Adolescent sexting is a developmentally embedded behavior reflecting adolescents' negotiation of autonomy, intimacy, and social norms within digital contexts. While prior research has demonstrated heterogeneity in adolescents' sexting involvement, less is known about how family relational processes influence the translation of risk related attitudes into behavior. Guided by social control theory and differential association theory, this study examined whether adolescents' disclosure to parents moderates the relationship between attitudinal profiles and sexting behaviors. Methods: Data were collected from 345 Israeli adolescents and young adults who retrospectively reported on their experiences during high school. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify groups of adolescents based on sexting norms, harm minimization, victim blaming, and social desirability. Subsequent moderation analyses examined whether adolescents' disclosure to parents moderated the association between these profiles and engagement in active, passive, and coercive sexting behaviors. Results: Three distinct profiles emerged: non sexters, advocates of sexting norms, and harmful sexters. Adolescents' disclosure to parents demonstrated a consistent protective effect. When disclosure levels were high, differences between profiles in active, passive, and coercive sexting behaviors were not statistically significant. In contrast, among adolescents reporting low disclosure to parents, those in the harmful sexters profile reported significantly higher involvement in all forms of sexting compared to adolescents in the other profiles. Discussion: The findings highlight adolescent disclosure to parents as a central developmental mechanism that regulates the behavioral expression of risk related norms and attitudes. By situating sexting within parent child communication dynamics, the study underscores the importance of relational processes in supporting adaptive development and identifies open disclosure as a key target for developmentally informed prevention and intervention efforts.