Sexting during social isolation: Predicting sexting-related privacy management during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, many people were physically separated from their romantic or sexual partners and added sexting to their sexual repertoire. Sexting involves the exchange of sensitive data and thus necessitates personal and interpersonal privacy management strategies such as information control and privacy boundary communication. This study investigates the psychological predictors of sexting-related privacy management. In an online survey with 494 young adults, we tested demographic, psychological, and behavioral correlates of sexting-related privacy management. Negative binomial regressions revealed that age, gender, and asynchronous sexting frequency positively predicted sexting-related privacy management. COVID-19-related social isolation moderated the positive effect of asynchronous sexting frequency: Asynchronous sexting frequency had a positive effect on sexting-related privacy management only in individuals with low or mean COVID-19-related social isolation. For those who perceived high COVID-19-related social isolation, asynchronous sexting frequency had no positive effect. This suggests that in a context of social isolation, even frequent sexters are willing to sacrifice their privacy. Relationship status, privacy concerns, rejection sensitivity, and synchronous sexting frequency were not related to sexting-related privacy management. The results highlight the various effects of COVID-19-related social isolation.

Personality and Sexual Perceptions of Penises: Digital Impression Formation

“…As digital sexuality and dating become more prevalent (Banerjee & Sathyanarayana, 2021;Courtice & Shaughnessy, 2017;Fisico, 2021;Lehmiller et al, 2021;Nessaibia et al, 2021;Thomas et al, 2021;Maes & Vandenbosch, 2022), the findings of the present study inform the impressions made by potential romantic partners through the exchange of explicit media. While most research has prioritized the face pictures and biographies of potential partners (Anzani et al, 2018;Dai & Robbins, 2021;Ramaker, 2020), the present finding take a step forward to investigate how pictures of penises may contribute to the holistic perception of the person within digital spaces.…”

“…As definitions of what constitutes sexual behavior becomes more ambiguous, the authors highlight the growing concerns of digital infidelity. Past research of sexting behaviors have primarily focused on the negative outcomes associated with them, as concerns about privacy and exploitation abound in digital spaces (Fisico, 2021 ; Maes & Vandenbosch, 2022 ; Thomas et al, 2021 ). Additionally, Lehmiller et al ( 2021 ) argued that while they observed digital sexuality behaviors increased, it was not associated with overall well-being or satisfaction during COVID-19 lockdowns.…”

Factores individuales y contextuales de riesgo asociados a las conductas sexting

“…Así, la desinhibición de las dos revoluciones, pueden llevar al individuo a cruzar un umbral de riesgo altamente peligroso (Agustina y Gómez-Durán, 2016). Thomas et al (2021) señalan dos estrategias empleadas por los adultos a la hora de realizar sexting: el intercambio de contenido sexual, insinuante o provocativo entre personas conocidas en entornos offline y no mostrar la cara en el ciberespacio.…”

“…Behavior & Law Journal,7(1),[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] práctica, la gestión de la privacidad del contenido público en entornos cibernéticos también se relaciona con la edad. Así, Thomas et al (2021) indican que "aunque los adultos se preocupan más por la privacidad a medida que envejecen, en las redes sociales, los adultos mayores utilizan menos estrategias de gestión de la privacidad que los adultos más jóvenes" (p. 8).…”

Media Education as a Means of Sexting Prevention

“…Sexting as a type of online threat has been addressed by several researchers in Slovakia and abroad. In Slovakia in particular Slovakia (Hollá, 2013;Hollá, et.al Thomas et al, 2021) and many others. Sexting is a medium that provides external validation and desirable or undesirable feelings for young vulnerable people.…”