Does parental monitoring and family attachment moderate the relationship between SMS and sexual behavior among Latino adolescents?

Introduction: Adolescents utilize short message service (SMS) extensively and yet little is known about how this influences risk behaviors. The current study tested whether text messaging is associated with risky sexual behavior, and whether family attachment and parental monitoring moderate the relationship. Methods: A sample of 618 Latino (57% female) 9th and 10th graders were recruited to participate in a survey. Youth reported on parental monitoring (4-point scale), family attachment (5-point scale), frequency of SMS to boy/girlfriend, and if they ever had vaginal sex. Multiple linear regression was used to assess associations and interaction effects. Results: Twenty-eight percent of respondents ever had vaginal sex. Seventy-three percent of respondents text their boy/girlfriend at least once per day. Family attachment interacts with the frequency of text messages sent to a boy/girlfriend to decrease the probability of ever having vaginal sex (p = .05, R2 = 12.55%). A second model indicates that parental monitoring interacts with the frequency of text messages sent to a boy/girlfriend to decrease the probability of ever having vaginal sex (p < .05, R2 = 12.99%). Conclusions: Although adolescents exchange SMS with their boy/girlfriend, which was found to be associated with ever having sex, family attachment and parental monitoring remain protective factors by moderating this relationship. This study suggests that SMS is simply another form of communication that poses no additional threat when parents and families are involved in the lives of their adolescents.