Introduction This research analyzes the prevalence of sexting and socio-demographic correlates in a sample of 647 adolescents administered a questionnaire at secondary schools in Valencia (Spain). Methods The questionnaire results indicate that 61% of respondents reported being involved in at least one case of sexting, with 24, 58, and 18% reporting having sent a sext, received a sext, and forwarded a sext, respectively. Results More males and older adolescents reported having received and forwarded sexts than female and younger adolescents. Conclusions Furthermore, time spent using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) devices, use and frequency of use of social media, grade repetition, low academic performance expectations in Math, and a single-parent family situation appear to correlate with an increase in the prevalence of sexting experiences. Policy Implications Our study also provides results that can support new lines of inquiry into analyzing the relationship between sexting and certain socio-demographic, family situation, and educational variables in relation to adolescents.

By systematic review with a three-level, mixed-effects meta-analysis, this paper examines the prevalence of sexting experiences among youths aimed at analyzing conceptual and methodological moderators that might explain its heterogeneity. A search was conducted of five bibliographic databases and grey literature up until February 2020. The risk of bias in primary studies was assessed. A total of seventy-nine articles met the set inclusion criteria. Mean prevalences for sending, receiving and forwarding sexts were .14 (95% CI: .12, .17), .31 (95% CI: .26, .36) and .07 (95% CI: .05, .09), respectively, expressed as fractions over one. Moderator analyses showed that all sexting experiences increased with age (e.g., the mean prevalence for sending sexts at the age of 12 was .04, whereas, at the age of 16, it was .21) and year of data collection (e.g., the mean prevalence for sending sexts in studies collecting data in 2009 was .07, whereas, in studies collecting data in 2018, it was .33). Subgroup analysis revealed that studies with probabilistic samples led to significantly lower mean prevalences for the sexting experiences of sending (.08, 95% CI: .06, .11), receiving (.19, 95% CI: .15, .24) and forwarding sexts (.04, 95% CI: .03, .07). Self-reported administration procedures also led to more homogeneous prevalence estimates than interviews. Prevalence estimates also varied according to the type of media content (e.g., the mean prevalence for sending sexual text messages was .22, whereas, for sending sexual images or videos, it was .12). Overall, our meta-analysis results suggest high and increasing prevalences of sending and receiving sexts among youths.

“Sexting” is generally defined as the exchange of sexual media content via the internet. However, research on this topic has underscored the need to seek greater consensus when considering different conceptual elements that make up this definition. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an instrument for measuring sexting among adolescents, in order to cover a gap identified in the previous literature. The Adolescent Sexting Scale (A-SextS for short) was developed for validation on a sample of 579 Spanish secondary school pupils between the ages of 11 and 18. Evidence for face, content, concurrent, and criterion validity were assessed. A comprehensive set of 64 items, covering six defining characteristics of sexting (e.g., actions, recipient, media format, degree of sexual explicitness), was constructed after conducting an extensive literature review, two discussion groups, and a pilot study. Sexting prevalence rates measured by A-SextS were mostly concurrent with those found in previous studies. A-SextS subscales produced statistically significant positive associations with pornography consumption and physical sexual intercourse. The study shows that A-SextS can be an integrating instrument that facilitates a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of adolescent sexting experiences, as well as the formulation of an operationalized definition of the practice of sexting.

No abstract

No abstract

The selection of a portfolio encounters several extremely complex situations. From among them, it has to be highlighted, due to its difficulty and transcendence, the Financial Assets selection when interrelations (positive and/or negative) occur among the expected profitabilities of each one of them.The tools traditionally used have tried to approach it by simplifying reality and, therefore, the obtained results are not fully satisfactory. This situation has encouraged the authors to questioning whether better solutions can be reached by applying the so called Intelligent Technologies. Thus, one of the available tools is the one constituted by Genetic Algorithms, due to its utility when offering solutions to complex optimization problems. Furthermore, by using the Fuzzy Sets Theory, we intend to obtain a closer representation for the uncertainty that characterises Financial Market.This way, it is intended to outline an approach to solve Financial Assets selection problems for a portfolio in a non-linear and uncertainty environment, by applying a Fuzzy Genetic Algorithm to optimize the investment profitability.

Review question / Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to analyse the effectiveness of different non-pharmacological interventions on academic stress in university students. Eligibility criteria: Those articles that meet the following criteria will be included: 1) Papers that refer to the evaluation of the efficacy of an intervention on purely academic stress, assessed with a specific academic stress assessment instrument and not general or perceived stress; 2) Samples composed only of university students; 3) Empirical studies with pretest-posttest; 4) Studies published in English, Spanish and Portuguese; 5) Articles published in the last 10 years (since January 1, 2011). Registers will be excluded if: 1) they do not meet the inclusion criteria; 2) they do not clearly define the assessment instrument or the type of stress they assess; 3) studies that do not clearly specify the implementation of a prospective intervention (e.g. studies that analyse the relationship between academic stress and having ever sought counselling from a university counselling or mental health service); 4) grey literature.

No abstract