From restrictions to awareness: Examining the varied relationship between mediation strategies and parental awareness of adolescents online sexual experiences across age groups

This study examines the relationship of parental concerns and attitudes toward restriction strategies with the implementation of parental mediation strategies and parental awareness of their children’s involvement in sexting. The research involved 710 German adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years old, along with one parent from each family (569 mothers and 141 fathers). Data for this research was collected in 2019 as part of the EU Kids Online project. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to analyse relationships between parental concerns, positive attitudes toward restrictions, mediation strategies and parental awareness across two age groups (12–14 and 15–17 years old). Results indicate that parents have equal concerns for younger and older children, but have more concerns for girls than boys. Regarding younger children, parental concerns are positively related to monitoring strategies while negatively associated with the use of restrictive strategies. Concerns about online activities have been found to predict the use of monitoring and active strategies for older children. Parental positive attitudes towards restrictions are also a predictor of the use of different strategies, with a positive relationship with restrictive, active and monitoring strategies in both age groups. Restrictive mediation is positively correlated with parental awareness about a child’s online sexual experiences in the younger group, while active mediation is positively correlated with parental awareness about a child’s online sexual experiences in the older group. In both age groups, monitoring strategies are negatively correlated with parental awareness about a child’s online sexual experiences. These findings contribute valuable insights into age-appropriate strategies when it comes to addressing sexting experiences.