IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i3p1805-d1040401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Motivations, Behaviors and Expectancies of Sexting: The Role of Defensive Strategies and Social Media Addiction in a Sample of Adolescents

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandra Ragona

    (Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, 00186 Rome, Italy)

  • Martina Mesce

    (Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, 00186 Rome, Italy)

  • Silvia Cimino

    (Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Rome, Sapienza, 00186 Rome, Italy)

  • Luca Cerniglia

    (Faculty of Psychology, International Telematic University Uninettuno, 00186 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Adolescents and young adults engage in sexting behaviors. Research has mainly emphasized the relationship between motivations and sexting behaviors, with little attention paid to sexting expectations and the potential role of coping strategies. This study aims to explore the measure of emotional–behavioral functioning with the Youth/Adult Self Report (based on the subject’s age), the use of defensive strategies measured with the Response Evaluation Measure (REM-71), social media addiction with the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and all dimensions of sexting: motivations, behavior and expectations measured with the Sexting Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ), Sexting Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ) and Sexpectancies Questionnaire (SQ), respectively. N = 209 adolescents and young adults were recruited from high schools and universities in Rome to complete the self-report questionnaires. Results show that males tend to have higher expectations of sexting than females. We also found that expectations play a role in determining sexting behaviors and motivations. Our hypotheses on social media addiction and sexting were confirmed, while the relationship between the defensive strategies and sexting was not significant as expected. Further studies on this topic are desirable in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Ragona & Martina Mesce & Silvia Cimino & Luca Cerniglia, 2023. "Motivations, Behaviors and Expectancies of Sexting: The Role of Defensive Strategies and Social Media Addiction in a Sample of Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1805-:d:1040401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1805/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1805/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoder, Jamie & Hansen, Jesse & Precht, Madison, 2018. "Correlates and outcomes associated with sexting among justice involved youth: The role of developmental adversity, emotional disinhibitions, relationship context, and dating violence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 493-499.
    2. Alicia Tamarit & Konstanze Schoeps & Montserrat Peris-Hernández & Inmaculada Montoya-Castilla, 2021. "The Impact of Adolescent Internet Addiction on Sexual Online Victimization: The Mediating Effects of Sexting and Body Self-Esteem," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Reed, Lauren A. & Boyer, Margaret P. & Meskunas, Haley & Tolman, Richard M. & Ward, L. Monique, 2020. "How do adolescents experience sexting in dating relationships? Motivations to sext and responses to sexting requests from dating partners," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Mara Morelli & Flavio Urbini & Dora Bianchi & Roberto Baiocco & Elena Cattelino & Fiorenzo Laghi & Piotr Sorokowski & Michal Misiak & Martyna Dziekan & Heather Hudson & Alexandra Marshall & Thanh Truc, 2021. "The Relationship between Dark Triad Personality Traits and Sexting Behaviors among Adolescents and Young Adults across 11 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-25, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catarina Almeida, Telma & Barreiros, Inês, 2024. "Online grooming among Portuguese adolescents and the COVID-19 lockdown: Relationship with other types of victimization," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Reed, Lauren A. & Lawler, Siobhan M. & Cosgrove, Jenny McCullough & Tolman, Richard M. & Ward, L. Monique, 2021. "“It was a joke:” Patterns in girls’ and boys’ self-reported motivations for digital dating abuse behaviors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    3. Małgorzata Dębska & Paweł Dębski & Jacek Polechoński & Michał Rozpara & Rajmund Tomik, 2021. "The Dark Triad of Personality in the Context of Health Behaviors: Ally or Enemy?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-9, April.
    4. Ng, Mei Yi & Harrison, Anna & Bath, Eraka & Kemp, Kathleen & Galbraith, Katharine & Brown, Larry K. & Tolou-Shams, Marina, 2022. "Sexting and behavioral health in first-time justice-involved adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1805-:d:1040401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.