Published October 26, 2017 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Adults who Sext: Exploring Differences in Self-Esteem, Moral Foundations, and Personality

Creators

  • 1. Purdue University, United States of America

Contributors

  • 1. Raksha Shakti University

Description


This study assessed the prevalence of sexting behaviors among adults, and the relationship between sexting and moral foundations, self-esteem, and individual differences. Additionally, this study examined differences in the methods used to send sext messages (mobile applications vs. text messages) and image content (e.g., face, masturbating). Respondents solicited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk completed the anonymous survey measuring “attitudes toward sexting.” The final sample included 508 adult participants; 68% of adults reported sexting behaviors, and both mobile applications and traditional text messages were used to send sext messages. In general, individuals who scored higher on extraversion and lower on conscientiousness, agreeableness, harm, and fairness were more likely to engage in sexting behaviors. Self-esteem was not associated with any sexting behaviors. Results also found significant differences between individuals who send semi-nude and nude sext messages. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Notes

This article forms a part of Special Issue on Sexting, International Journal of Cyber Criminology, Vol 11 issue 2, July - December 2017. Guest Editors: Fawn Ngo, K. Jaishankar, Jose R. Agustina.

Files

Crimmins&Spellarvol11issue2IJCC2017.pdf

Files (625.9 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:82e3f1bc57f7b4fbe699cb7f6128845d
625.9 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Related works

Is identical to
http://cybercrimejournal.com/Crimmins&Spellarvol11issue2IJCC2017.pdf (URL)

References

  • Abraham, A. E. (2015) Sexting uncensored: an exploratory study of the behaviors, experiences and perceptions of sexting among college students. Unpublished Master's Thesis. California State University, Fresno. Fresno, California. Arditte, K. A., Çek, D., Shaw, A. M., & Timpano, K. R. (2015). The importance of assessing clinical phenomena in Mechanical Turk re-search. Psychological Assessment, 28(6),684-691. Associated Press and Music Television. (2009). 2009 AP-MTV Digital Abuse Study. Retrieved from http://www.athinline.org. Berinsky, A. J., Huber, G. A., & Lenz, G. S. (2011). Using Mechanical Turk as a subject recruitment tool for experimental research. Submitted for review. Crimmins, D. M., & Seigfried-Spellar, K. C. (2014). Peer attachment, sexual experiences, and risky online behaviors as predictors of sexting behaviors among undergraduate students. Computers in Human Behavior, 32, 268-275. Dean, M. (2012, October 18). The Story of Amanda Todd. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http.//newyorker.com. Delevi, R., & Weisskirch, R.S. (2013). Personality factors as predictors of sexting. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(6), 2589-2594. Dir, A. L., Coskunpinar, A., Steiner, J. L., & Cyders, M. A. (2013a). Understanding differences in sexting behaviors across gender, relationship status and sexual identity, and the role of expectances in sexting. Cyberpychology, Behavior and Social Networking 16(8) 556 -574. Dir, A. L., Cyders, M. A., & Coskunpinar, A. (2013b). From the bar to the bed via mobile phone: A first test of the role of problematic alcohol use, sexting, and impulsivity-related traits in sexual hookups. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1664-1670. Drouin, M,. & Landgraff, C. (2011). Texting, sexting, and attachment in college students' romantic relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(2), 444-449. Easton, J. A., Confer, J. C., Goetz, C. D., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Reproduction expediting: Sexual motivations, fantasies, and the ticking biological clock. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 516-520. Egan, V. (2009). The 'big five': Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness as an organizational scheme for thinking about aggression and violence. In M. McMurran & R. C. Howard (Eds.). Personality, Personality Disorder and Violence (pp. 63-79). UK: John Wiley & Sons. Field, A. (2013). Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Glenn, A. L., Iyer, R., Graham, J., Koleva, S., & Haidt, J. (2009). Are all types of morality compromised in psychopathy?. Journal of personality disorders, 23(4), 384-398. Gordon-Messer, D., Bauermeister, J. A., Grodzinski, A., & Zimmerman, M. (2013). Sexting among young adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52, 301-306. Graham, J., Haidt, J., & Nosek, B. (2008). The Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Retrieved from www.MoralFoundations.org. Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Vintage. Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2004). Intuitive ethics: How innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues. Daedalus, 133(4), 55-66. Hastings, K. (2009, March 10). Teenager commits suicide after "sexting" a nude photo to her boyfriend made her life misery. Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk. Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2016). State sexting laws: A brief review of state sexting and revenge porn laws and policies. Hudson, H. K. (2011). Factors affecting sexting behaviors among selected undergraduate students. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C.J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality (pp. 114–158). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Johnson, D. R., & Borden, L. A. (2012). Participants at your fingertips using Amazon's Mechanical Turk to increase student–faculty collaborative research. Teaching of Psychology, 39, 245–251. Jones, S.E., Miller, J.D., & Lynam, D.R. (2011). Personality, antisocial behavior, and aggression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(4), 329–337. Kirk, R. E. (1996). Practical significance: A concept whose time has come. Educational and psychological measurement, 56(5), 746-759. Klettek, B., Hallford, D. J., & Mellor, D. J. (2014) Sexting prevalence and correlates: A systematic literature review. Clinical psychology review, 34(1), 44-53. Lewis, I., Watson, B., & White, K. M. (2009). Internet versus paper-and-pencil survey methods in psychological experiments: Equivalence testing of participant responses to health-related messages. Australian Journal of Psychology, 61(2), 107-116. McGraw, K. O., Tew, M. D., & Williams, J. E. (2000). The integrity of web-delivered experiments: Can you trust the data?. Psychological Science, 11(6), 502-506. Miller, M. (2015, September 21). N.C. just prosecuted teenage couple for making child porn of themselves. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://washingtonpost.com. Miller, J. D., Crowe, M., Weiss, B., Maples-Keller, J. L., & Lynam, D. R. (2017). Using online, crowdsourcing platforms for data collection in personality disorder research: The Example of Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 8(1), 26-34. Child Victim Identification Program (2017, May). Purpose and function. Retrieved from http://www.missingkids.com/CVIP. Moral Foundations (2016, January). Moral Foundations. Retrieved from http://www.moralfoundations.org. National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. (2008). Sex and Tech: Results from a survey of teens and young adults. Retrieved from http://thenationalcampaign.org. Peer, E., Vosgerau, J., & Acquisti, A. (2014). Reputation as a sufficient condition for data quality on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Behavior Research Methods, 46(4), 1023-1031. Ringrose, J., Harvey, L., Gill, R., & Livingstone, S. (2013). Teen girls, sexual double standards and 'sexting': Gendered value in digital image exchange. Feminist Theory, 14(3), 305 323. Rosenberg, E. (2016, September 22). Anthony Weiner faces new scrutiny after report about girl, 15. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com. Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Samimi, P., & Alderson, K. (2014). Sexting among undergraduate students. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 230-241. Schmitt, D. P. (2004). The Big Five related to risky sexual behaviour across 10 world regions: Differential personality associations of sexual promiscuity and relationship infidelity. European Journal of personality, 18(4), 301-319. Spencer, J., Olson, J., Schrager, S., Tanaka, D., & Belzer, M. (2015). 40. Sexting and Adolescents: A Descriptive Study of Sexting and Youth in an Urban Population. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(2), S22. Stasko, E.C., & Geller, P.A. (2015). Reframing sexting as a positive relationship behavior. American Psychological Association, p. 6-9. Statistica. (2017). Most popular mobile messaging apps in the United States as of February 2017, by monthly active users (in millions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics. Turchik, J. A., Garske, J. P., Probst, D. R., & Irvin, C. R. (2010). Personality, sexuality, and substance use as predictors of sexual risk taking in college students. Journal of sex research, 47(5), 411-419. Van Ouytsel, J., Van Gool, E., Walrave, M., Ponnet, K., & Peeters, E. (2017). Sexting: adolescents' perceptions of the applications used for, motives for, and consequences of sexting. Journal of Youth Studies, 20(4), 446-470. Widiger, T. (2004). Five Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF). Retrieved from www.uky.edu/~widiger/ffmrf.rtf. Wortham, J. (2013). A growing app lets you see it, then you don't". New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com. Yeung, T. H., Horyniak, D. R., Vella, A. M., Hellard, M. E., & Lim, M. S. (2014). Prevalence, correlates and attitudes towards sexting among young people in Melbourne, Australia. Sexual health, 11(4), 332-339.