Native peer pressure predicts non-consensual sexting among minority adolescents

A cross-sectional study of 293 second-generation migrant adolescents in Greek public schools found that perceived pressure from Greek-born peers was the strongest statistical predictor of sending and receiving non-consensual sexual content online. Self-control provided a secondary protective association, while sexual preoccupation had a smaller positive relationship with these behaviors. The researchers reported that 87.8% of participants scored above “never” in at least one of three roles, although the measure combined any non-zero frequency rather than identifying a single lifetime prevalence estimate. The findings offer an exploratory baseline for a population that has received limited research attention, but they do not establish causation or prove that minority adolescents behave differently from native-born youth.

The study, conducted by Dimitrios Chasapis and Thanos Touloupis, combined Ecological Systems Theory with Social Cognitive Theory to examine how immediate social relationships and individual characteristics might jointly relate to digital sexual behavior. Its participants were third-grade junior high school students, generally aged 14 to 15, in randomly selected public schools in Greece’s two largest regions. All were second-generation migrants with parents from Albania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Israel or Armenia. The sample included 59% who self-identified as boys, and 79% of eligible students returned signed consent forms. Data collection took place between October 2024 and June 2025, with questionnaires administered in 20-minute classroom sessions.

Non-consensual sexting was measured with a shortened, modified version of the Sex & Tech Scale containing 12 items across three roles: sending sexually explicit content without consent, receiving such content posted without consent, and forwarding material concerning another person without authorization. Participants rated each item from “never” to “very often.” The sending, receiving and forwarding dimensions correlated positively with one another, while sending and receiving were reported more frequently than forwarding. A repeated-measures analysis confirmed that involvement differed significantly across roles, with a partial eta-squared of 0.13. There was no statistically significant difference between sending and receiving, and the forwarding model later used for regression analysis did not reach statistical significance.

Students of Albanian and Bulgarian origin reported more sending and receiving than the group whose parents came from other countries. The overall multivariate effect of ethnocultural background was significant, with Pillai’s trace of 0.12 and a partial eta-squared of 0.06. Follow-up tests detected differences in sending and receiving, but not forwarding. Albanian and Bulgarian students did not differ significantly from one another. These findings identify two relatively large demographic groups within the sample as having greater reported direct digital involvement. They do not show why the pattern occurred, because the study did not directly measure ethnic identity, cultural identification, acculturation stress, discrimination or the meanings adolescents attached to their exchanges.

Gender was not a significant differentiator in any of the three roles. Multivariate analysis produced a non-significant result, and separate tests found no statistically meaningful differences between boys and girls in sending, receiving or forwarding. This contrasts with research in other populations and settings, where boys have often been more frequently identified as senders and girls as victims. The present result is limited to the 293 second-generation migrant students studied in two Greek regions. It should not be interpreted as evidence that gender is generally irrelevant to non-consensual sexting, nor does it establish equal risk in every context.

Perceived native peer pressure was measured with an 11-item scale adapted into Greek, with native peers defined as Greek adolescents without a migrant or foreign background. Higher perceived pressure was positively correlated with all three forms of involvement and was negatively correlated with self-control. Self-control, assessed through a 13-item scale, was consistently and negatively associated with sending, receiving and forwarding. Sexual preoccupation, measured with a 10-item subscale addressing intense sexual thoughts or fantasies, correlated positively with the three behaviors, with peer pressure and with each other. These bivariate relationships describe covariation rather than temporal sequence or causal effect.

The study then entered native peer pressure, self-control and sexual preoccupation simultaneously into separate standard multiple regressions for each sexting role. This approach estimated each variable’s unique statistical contribution while controlling for the other two. For sending and receiving, the combined models were statistically significant, and the ordering of the associations was consistent: native peer pressure was the strongest positive predictor, self-control was a secondary negative predictor, and sexual preoccupation was the weakest positive predictor. For forwarding, none of the three factors emerged as a significant predictor. Because the design was exploratory, the researchers used simultaneous rather than hierarchical entry, treating the predictors as theoretically comparable despite the literature’s limited direct testing in this population.

The authors interpret the pattern through a model in which social surroundings, personal regulation and behavior influence one another. The comparatively strong association with native peer pressure may be consistent with the idea that adolescents from migrant backgrounds seek recognition within the host society’s peer networks. The authors also propose that persistent sexual thoughts may act as “cognitive readiness,” lowering the threshold for action once a social cue appears, while self-control functions as an internal brake. These are theoretical interpretations, not demonstrated mechanisms. The study did not test whether peer pressure weakened self-control, whether acculturation stress mediated the relationships or whether adolescents used sexting to gain acceptance. It also did not include family dynamics, school composition or other ecological factors that could affect digital behavior.

Several design features limit how far the results can be generalized. The cross-sectional, correlational design cannot establish which factors preceded the reported behavior. Self-reports may be affected by recall error or social-desirability bias, particularly for sensitive conduct, and the quantitative design could not explore individual motivations. The sample was concentrated in two Greek regions and included unequal numbers from smaller national groups, which were consolidated for comparison. Most importantly, there was no native-born control group. Without one, the study cannot determine whether native peer pressure is more influential for minority adolescents than for other Greek youth, and it cannot demonstrate that the observed group differences reflect migration or ethnocultural background rather than other characteristics of the sampled students.

The results point to specific priorities for future research rather than an immediate explanation of the behavior. A longitudinal design would be needed to test whether changes in perceived peer pressure, self-control or sexual preoccupation precede changes in non-consensual sexting. Future studies should include native-born comparison groups, direct measures of cultural values and host-country identification, larger and more geographically diverse samples, and more balanced representation of individual minority communities. Interviews could clarify how students understood consent, peer status and the consequences of forwarding explicit material. Multi-informant data from parents, teachers or peers might also reduce the uncertainty inherent in adolescent self-report. Until those steps are completed, the strongest defensible conclusion is that, in this exploratory Greek sample, perceived native peer pressure had the clearest statistical association with direct non-consensual sexting, while self-control was associated with less involvement and sexual preoccupation with more.

Subject of Research: Predictors of non-consensual sexting among second-generation migrant adolescents in Greece

Article Title: Non-consensual sexting among adolescents from ethnocultural minority backgrounds: the role of native peer pressure, self-control, and sexual preoccupation

Article References: Chasapis, D., & Touloupis, T. (2026). Non-consensual sexting among adolescents from ethnocultural minority backgrounds: the role of native peer pressure, self-control, and sexual preoccupation. BMC Psychology, 14(1), Article 1345. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05196-9

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05196-9

Keywords: adolescent digital safety, non-consensual sexting, native peer pressure, self-control, sexual preoccupation, migrant adolescents, Greek schools, digital aggression, ecological systems theory, Non-consensual, sexting, adolescents