Purpose
Sexting has stirred debate over its legality and safety, but few researchers have documented the relationship between sexting and health. We describe the sexting behavior of young adults in the United States, and examine its association with sexual behavior and psychological well-being.
Methods
Using an adapted web version of Respondent-Driven Sampling (webRDS) we recruited a sample of U.S. young adults (ages 18 to 24; N=3447). We examined participant sexting behavior using 4 categories of sexting: 1) Non-Sexters, 2) Receivers, 3) Senders, and 4) Two-way Sexters. We then assessed the relationships between sexting categories and sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behavior and psychological well-being.
Results
Over half (57%) of respondents were Non-Sexters, 28.2% of the sample were Two-way Sexters, 12.6% were Receivers, and 2% were Senders. Males were more likely to be Receivers than females. Sexually active respondents were more likely to be Two-way Sexters than non-sexually active respondents. Among participants who were sexually active in the past 30 days, we found no differences across sexting groups in number of sexual partners, or number of unprotected sex partners in the past 30 days. We also found no relationship between sexting and psychological well-being.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that sexting is not related to sexual risk behavior or psychological well-being. We discuss the findings of this study and propose directions for further research on sexting.
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