Sexting in adolescence: what are the reasons? An empirical study.

Objectives: This study aims to provide an in-depth analysis on the phenomenon of sexting through the investigation of the motivations that lead adolescents to such practice. We took account of gender differences and the more used varieties of sexting behaviors. Recent studies have pointed out that sexual purposes, instrumental motivations and body image reinforcement, as well as the pressure exerted by partners and friends, seem to be the reasons that push teenager to resort to sexting. The aim of our research is to evaluate which of these motivations are mainly associated to sexting behaviors. Method: Our sample involved 157 teenagers aged from 13 and 20 years (M=17,39), among which 110 were female. We administered the sample the Questionnaire on Sexting Behaviors and the Questionnaire on Sexting Motivations. Results: Our results found that 69,4% of participants (n=109) reported having done sexting at least once. Statistically relevant differences emerged in favor of the male group as concerns the subdimension of received sexts and that of sent own sexts. On the other hand, no statistically significant differences were found in relation to gender and concerning the three sexting motivations, even if the results of a multivariate linear regression model have indicated that only Instrumental/aggravate reasons (p < .001) and Sexting forced by partner (p = 0.15) significantly predicted sexting. Conclusions: The role played by Instrumental motivations is a worrying wake-up call, since such behaviors can prelude to violent actions like dating violence and cyberbullying. Therefore, more incisive and early preventive measures are needed.