Sext Dissemination and Mental Health Among Young Italian Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine sexting behavior, specifically the prevalence of sexting, and its relationships with sociodemographic characteristics (i.e. gender, sexual orientation, and age) and psychological adjustment. To this end, a cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey. The sample consisted of 999 young adults (98% Italian, 76% female, 67.4% heterosexual) with a mean age of 24.47 years (SD = 3.11). Results showed differences in sexting behavior according to gender and sexual orientation. Age was also associated with sexting behavior. These findings have important implications for clinical practice and future research. Awareness of sexting behavior and its relationships with sociodemographic characteristics can inform the development of targeted interventions to promote safe and ethical use of digital technologies in the realm of sexuality. Additionally, further research can delve into the psychological dynamics involved in sexting and identify risk and protective factors associated with its use.

Code availability

For this research we used SPSS 20 sofware available from our University.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obteined from all individual participants included in the study

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.