Using vignettes in qualitative research to assess young adults’ perspectives of sexting behaviours

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare attitudes toward sexting using vignettes. Participants were 49 university students (ages 19-26) who participated in five online focus group discussions and responded to five written vignettes describing sexting. The five vignettes about sexting were composed of five types of sexting experiences: 1) sexting under intimate partner pressure, 2) revenge sexting, 3) consensual sexting with intimate partner, 4) sexting under peer pressure, and 5) sexting to flirt with others. Students gave their opinions on the vignettes presented. Revenge sexting was perceived as a behaviour more negative than any other type of sexting experience. The vignette that depicted sexting with an intimate partner in a long-distance relationship was perceived as the least negative of all types of sexting. The results of this study aim to inspire future studies to use vignettes as a methodological tool to determine youths' attitudes, beliefs, and opinions about sexting.

Sexting, fear of missing out (FOMO), and problematic social network use among adolescents

“…Therefore, the present data do not support statistical significance between a change in the level of well-being and sexting (a phenomenon that is not widespread and not linked to the developmental needs of all adolescents). The problematic nature of sexting leading to reduced well-being may emerge in extreme cases when intimate material is shared on the Internet, violates the law, or leads to the stigmatization of the young person in the immediate environment (Anastassiou, 2017;Galovan et al, 2018;Burić et al, 2021;Dodaj et al, 2023). When analysing the relationship between sexting and well-being, a range of contexts should be taken into account, as well as the fact that not all actions lead to extreme situations.…”