Sexting Behavior Predictors Vary With Addressee and the Explicitness of the Sexts

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine associations of adolescent sexting with gender, being in a romantic relationship, and other online or offline sexual behaviors, using the adolescent sexting scale A-SextS as a standardized measure. Data were collected from a sample of 579 Spanish secondary school pupils (47.3% girls), between the ages of 11 and 18 (interquartile range: 13–15 years; median = 14 years). Multinomial regression models revealed that having had sexual intercourse was the most relevant predictor variable, especially for high-frequency sexting. Adolescents involved in a romantic relationship were more likely to engage in high-frequency sexting with someone known in person. Pornography consumption was mainly associated with high-frequency explicit sexting with someone known only on the internet. Lastly, females were more likely to engage in low-frequency, non-explicit sexting as well as high-frequency explicit sexting with someone known only on the internet.