Sexting Types and Motives Detected among Slovak Adolescents

Abstract

The present study maps different types of adolescent sexting in the Slovak Republic, i.e. primary and secondary sexting, as well as self- and peer-sexting. Our research has been focused on the investigation and comparison of motives that make the adolescents of different ages and genders decide for voluntary, forced, primary, secondary, self- or peer-sexting. The research sample included 790 Slovak adolescents aged 12–18, of which 376 were boys (47.6%) and 414 were girls (52.4%). The gender-based comparison provided us with statistically significant differences in pursuing various types of sexting. The most frequent form of sexting is peer sexting. In terms of motivation, the research shows that most adolescents use individual sexting forms to seek attention or entertain themselves. Secondary sexting (as the most dangerous form of this behavior) is most often driven by entertainment, retaliation, revenge and jealousy. All these motives were also statistically more significant for male respondents.

“I could do almost nothing without digital technology”: a qualitative exploration of adolescents’ perception of the risks and challenges of digital technology

“…Regarding our finding on the adolescents’ exposure to inappropriate content, studies conducted by Livingstone and Gorzig (2014b) and Hollá (2020) showed that such experience is often greater in people who tend to look for a sensation and to take part in risky activities or who suffer from some psychological difficulties, as they tend to visit risky website. Ševcíková et al, 2015 proposed various situations when adolescents feel bothered by this kind of content, e.g., if the message presents extreme forms of sex or is inadequate for their age or stage in building romantic relationships.…”

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Sexting Motives and Attitudes: Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Croatia

“…Previous research that focused on examining motivations for sexting behavior was mostly limited to samples from single countries [64][65][66]. Only a few recent studies [31,32,60] directly compared countries in terms of motivation for sexting behavior and related factors.…”

Factores individuales y contextuales de riesgo asociados a las conductas sexting

“…Las relaciones íntimas también pueden influenciar la participación, ya que se emplea el sexting como una forma moderna de flirteo o como medio de captación de la atención de una pareja potencial (Wolak & Finkelhor, 2011y Sesar et al, 2019. El problema surge cuando la relación se rompe y uno de los integrantes usa la fotos íntimas como método de venganza (Hollá & Jedlickova, 2019). Dodaj & Sesar (2021) afirman que "quienes participan en el sexting consideran que es el patrón de comportamiento más común para imitar o mantener una relación íntima, explorar su identidad o divertirse o ganar popularidad entre pares" (p.148).…”