Abstract
Pressure to send sexually explicit messages, or ‘sexting coercion’ is associated with adverse mental health outcomes and sexual risk behaviors. This study explores Differentiation of Self (DoS) as a potential protective factor to reduce susceptibility to sexting coercion. A convenience sample of 399 Australian participants, aged 18 to 21 years (Mage = 19.63; SD = 1.14, 68.2% women) completed an online survey measuring sexting behaviors and DoS. Women were four times more likely to send willing unwanted sexts, and seven times more likely to engage in coerced unwanted sexting than men. Participants with low DoS were four times more likely to engage in coerced unwanted sexting. DoS significantly mediated the relationship between gender and coerced unwanted sexting. Results support the proposal of a sexting coercion typology encompassing discrete sub-types of sexting coercion. Results also indicate DoS may operate as a protective factor for young people in Australia, reducing compliance with sexting when coerced.
Highlights
The digital age has drastically altered the expression of human relationships, with sexting behaviors described as an extension of normative social interactions, including sexual exploration and behavior [1,2], and converging across technology-facilitated forms, including sexting coercion
This was the first empirical study to explore the relationship between sexting coercion as a form of violence, gender, and Differentiation of Self as a potential protective factor in a cohort of young people
This study suggests that augmenting Differentiation of Self (DoS) may mitigate risks associated with the effects of social and individual factors associated with sexting coercion, by mediating vulnerabilities faced by young people
Summary
The digital age has drastically altered the expression of human relationships, with sexting behaviors described as an extension of normative social interactions, including sexual exploration and behavior [1,2], and converging across technology-facilitated forms, including sexting coercion. While there is no universally agreed upon definition for ‘sexting’ or ‘sexting coercion’, most research defines ‘sexting’ as the electronic exchange of sexually explicit text messages, images, photos, or video content via any digital platform [1,2,3]; whereas ‘sexting coercion’, constitutes an aggressive and violent form of sexting behavior, occurring amid threat, pressure, persistent requests, and/or coercion [2,4]. ‘unwanted consensual sexting’ is a term adapted from explanations of unwanted but consensual sex, and is used to describe an individual who consensually engages in sexting despite not wanting to [8]. Despite ‘unwanted consensual sexting’ denoting a level of consent to sext, this term does not clearly account for the existence of social pressures which may influence willingness to engage in sexting [8]. A lack of delineation and definition between coercive sexting conceptualization and measurement may hinder the advancement of sexting research by creating difficulties when attempting to compare or synthesize data, limiting the capacity for research to compare findings across populations
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