Prevalence and Correlates of Sext-Sharing Among a Representative Sample of Youth in the Netherlands

Abstract

Many adolescents use their electronic devices to send each other sexually explicit texts, photos, and videos of themselves—commonly known as sexting. This can be fun and is not usually problematic. However, if the intended recipient decides to share these sexts with a broader audience, the consequences for the depicted can be detrimental. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of (non-consensual) sext-sharing among Dutch adolescents and explore the characteristics of those who do, to gain a better understanding of factors involved in dissemination. We used data from “Sex under the age of 25,” a representative national survey on sexual health among a sample of 20,834 Dutch 12–24-year-olds. The prevalence of sext-sharing was estimated using Complex Samples. Logistic regressions were used to assess associations between demographics, school-based sexting education, sexual- and online behavior, and mental health and sext-sharing. About 4% of the adolescents reported having shared someone else's sext in the last six months. Being male, aged 12–14 years, frequent social media usage, watching online porn, sexual experience, and being subjected to sext-sharing themselves associated most strongly with sext-sharing. Our findings show that the likelihood of sext-sharing is lower in older adolescents and that it associates with the extent of adolescents' sexual curiosity and online activity. The overlap between sharing sexts of others and having one's own sext shared suggests that dissemination of personal sexual content might be normalized or used as an act of retribution. Further research could be helpful to explain the mechanisms underlying this overlap. The results of this study illustrate the importance of exposing adolescents to evidence based preventive educational interventions on sexting from 12 years onwards and not just within the context of traditional school-based sex education, but also as a part of the (online) media-literacy curriculum.

Digital displacement of youth offending: scoping and understanding the issue

“…A study of six- to nine-year-old US students found that coercion to participate in cybersex or repeatedly requesting explicit images was perpetrated by 8% of a sample of 1,236 students aged 11–14 years, with the 14-year-old cohort over two and a half times more likely to engage than the 11-year-old participants (Smith-Darden et al , 2017). Similar results were seen in The Netherlands, with the 15–17 age group more likely to share sexts than the 12–14 age group (Boer et al , 2021). Harassment can also involve “sextortion”, sexual extortion, where the offender demands explicit content with threats to harm the victim if the demand is not met, often by making previously shared images public (Lee and Darcy, 2021).…”

Did They Deserve It? Adolescents’ Perception of Online Harassment in a Real-Case Scenario

“…Since schools are places where children and adolescents first socialize and educate themselves, as well as develop online and offline relationships, moral behavior, and communication, there is a wide range of school-based interventions aimed at preventing online sexual violence, including the sharing of unwanted intimate sexual messages [ 97 ]. However, many of these programs merely focus on abstinence from sexting and the use of risk communication strategies to discourage sexting altogether, while no alternative digital sexual education interventions have been observed [ 98 , 99 ].…”

Sexual Boundary Violations via Digital Media Among Students

“…In a research project with 357 adolescents, Symons et al (2018) point out the high probability that sexting will take place in the context of a romantic relationship. A study by Boer et al (2021) demonstrates different usages of sexting dependent on the gender and socio-economic status of the adolescents.…”