Literature reviewAdolescents and self-taken sexual images: A review of the literature
Introduction
In the last decade there have been considerable changes in the role that technology plays in young people's lives. Smartphones, in particular, enable adolescents to connect to one another, and to the world, through a range of social and visual media. Alongside the perceived benefits of online and mobile technologies, public concerns have emerged relating to young people's changing social communication practices. One adolescent practice to receive public attention is the self-production of sexual images (or ‘sexting’). Sexting can be understood as the sending or posting of sexually suggestive text messages and images, including nude or semi-nude photographs, via mobiles or over the Internet. Definitions vary however and some studies may also refer to the receiving of texts and images, or explore an aspect of image content or sexting behaviour such as forwarding or sharing images (for discussion, see Drouin et al., 2013, Klettke et al., 2014).
Despite an increasing number of studies aimed at identifying the prevalence of adolescent sexting, there remains a dearth of research exploring young people's motivations for sexting, along with their experiences of both making and sending images (see Döring, 2014, Klettke et al., 2014). The aim of this review is to provide a clearer, more detailed summary of the existing literature by focussing specifically on research findings and discussions around young people's sexting practices and the influence of motivational, lifestyle and personality factors on their experiences. With social media providing a platform for many adolescent social interactions and, increasingly, their sexual exploration and behaviours, the review will explore these behaviours within a broader developmental framework of adolescent online and mobile practices and debates around gender and social/visual media cultures, including risk and identity creation. These issues are crucial in highlighting the contemporary cultural and technological environment within which sexting takes place and in assisting with future academic research, policy development and practice.
Section snippets
Methodology
Given the ever-increasing wealth of media-generated and academic literature examining young people's sexting behaviours, there is a surprising lack of quality research providing adolescents with a voice to explain their motivations and behaviours. Previous systematic reviews have detailed sexting prevalence and the factors influencing participation across the age spectrum (See Döring, 2014, Klettke et al., 2014). However, as yet there has been no literature review specifically exploring the
Sexting prevalence: age, gender and sexuality
In the context of this review, sexting can be understood simply as the sending or posting of sexually suggestive images, including nude or semi-nude photographs, via mobiles or over the Internet. However in light of broad and varied definitions of the activity, there have been considerable social and legal implications around sexting behaviours as well as limitations for comparative work across research articles and studies (see Drouin et al., 2013, Lounsbury et al., 2011). In particular, there
Discussion and conclusions
This review has highlighted both the range of existing research and debate around adolescent and young adult sexting and the surprising lack of quality in-depth research aimed at exploring context, personality and gender within young people's experiences and consequences of the activity. Indeed, this review supports the findings of Klettke et al. (2014) whereby a number of methodological constraints are notable across the research field. These include a focus on survey data and self-selected
Acknowledgements
This literature review derives from a wider research project funded by the European Safer Internet Programme (2009–2013) as a Knowledge Enhancement Project. Grant Agreement Number SI-2012-KEP-411207.
References (91)
The author replies
Journal of Adolescent Health
(July 2013)- et al.
Sexting among young men who have sex with men: results from a national survey
Journal of Adolescent Health
(2014) - et al.
Does country context matter? Investigating the predictors of teen sexting across Europe
Computers in Human Behaviour
(2014) - et al.
Sexting, substance use, and sexual risk behaviour in young adults
Journal of Adolescent Health
(2013) - et al.
Peer attachment, sexual experiences, and risky online behaviours as predictors of sexting behaviours among undergraduate students
Computers in Human Behaviour
(2014) - et al.
Personality factors as predictors of sexting
Computers in Human Behaviour
(Nov, 2013) - et al.
From the bar to the bed via mobile phone: a first test of the role of problematic alcohol use, sexting and impulsivity-related traits in sexual hook-ups
Computers in Human Behaviour
(2013) - et al.
Unwanted but consensual sexting among young adults. Relations with attachment and sexual motivations
Computers in Human Behaviour
(2014) - et al.
Let's talk about sexting, baby: computer-mediated sexual behaviours among young adults
Computers in Human Behaviour
(2013) - et al.
Sexting among young adults
Journal of Adolescent Health
(2013)
Voluntary sexual exposure online among Swedish youth – social background, internet behaviour and psychosocial health
Computers in Human Behaviour.
Sexting prevalence and correlates: a systematic literature review
Clinical Psychology Review
Brief report: teen sexting and psychosocial health
Journal of Adolescence
Sexting: young women's and men's views on its nature and origins
Journal of Adolescent Health
‘Sexting’ and adult romantic attachment
Computers in Human Behaviour
Sexting, consent and young people's ethics: beyond Megan's story
Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies
Young people and sexting in Australia: Ethics, representation and the law
Report of the APA task force on the sexualisation of girls
Technology, hormones and stupidity: the affective politics of teenage sexting
Sexualities
AP-MTV digital abuse study, executive summary, September 23rd
Prevalence and predictors of text-based and visually explicit cybersex among adolescents
Young
Violence among peers in the real and virtual world
Paediatrics Today
The mobile phone = bike shed? Children, sex and mobile phones
New Media and Society
CRD's guidance for undertaking reviews in health care
‘It's only a picture’: sexting, ‘smutty’ snapshots and felony charges
Visual Studies
Teen online and wireless safety survey: Cyberbullying, sexting, and parental controls
Flashing your phone: sexting and the remediation of teen sexuality
Communication Quarterly
Prevalence and correlates of sexting behaviour in adolescents
American Journal of Sexuality Education
Understanding differences in sexting behaviours across gender, relationship status, and sexual identity, and the role of expectancies in sexting
Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking
Sexting: an emerging behaviour of risk
Paradigm, Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery
Consensual sexting among adolescents: risk prevention through abstinence education or safer sexting?
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
Low risk associated with most teenage sexting: A study of 617 18-year-olds
Sexting behaviours among young Hispanic women: Incidence and association with other high-risk sexual behaviours
Psychiatric Quarterly
Prevalence and patterns of sexting among ethnic minority urban high school students
Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking
Generation disconnections: youth culture and mobile communication
Sexting as media production: rethinking social media and sexuality
New Media and Society
Introduction: narratives of the sexual child: shared themes and shared challenges
Sexualities
Sexting and sexual relationships among teens and young adults
McNair Scholars Research Journal
Media ecologies
sexting and sexual behaviour in at-risk adolescents
Pediatrics
Sexting, catcalls, and butt slaps: how gender stereotypes and perceived group norms predict sexualised behaviour
Sex Roles
Lolita speaks: ‘Sexting’, teenage girls and the law
Crime Media Culture
Receiving online sexual requests and producing online sexual images: the multifaceted and dialogic nature of adolescents' online sexual interactions
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
How much is too much? Limit setting and sexual acting out in a digital era
Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session
Sexting among Czech pre-adolescents and adolescents
New Educational Review
Cited by (168)
The association between sexting motives and behavior as a function of parental and peers' role
2023, Computers in Human BehaviorSexting experiences and motivations among adolescents with ADHD and ASD
2023, Computers in Human BehaviorSexual media and behaviors
2023, Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health, First EditionDigital technologies, equitable gender norms, and sexual health practices across sexting patterns among forcibly displaced adolescents in the slums of Kampala, Uganda
2023, Computers in Human BehaviorCitation Excerpt :In sum, gaps in the literature to date on sexting in SSA mirror the gaps in the sexting literature broadly, and both suffer from a lack of standardized conceptualizations of sexting. Reviews of sexting studies conducted among adolescents in high-income countries found no consistent correlation between sexting and sexual practices (e.g., sex with multiple partners, contraceptive use, condom use, and sexual activity) (Cooper et al., 2016; Kosenko et al., 2017; Madigan et al., 2018; Mori et al., 2019). Similarly, recent sexting studies from SSA found no consistent correlations between sexting and sexual risk practices (Abrha et al., 2019; Baiden et al., 2020; Makgale & Plattner, 2017; Marume et al., 2018; Olatunde & Balogun, 2017).
Young Love “Locked Down”: Adolescent and Young Adult Perspectives on Sexting During the Covid-19 Pandemic in England
2024, Archives of Sexual BehaviorPrevalence and Impact of Revenge Pornography on a Sample of Portuguese Women
2024, Sexuality and Culture