Jessica is a Senior Research Officer in the Family Policy and Practice Research team.

Recent research suggests that more young adults engage in sexting than teenagers and those who sext regard it more positively than those who don't.
Sexting—the sending and receiving of sexually explicit or sexually suggestive texts or images via phone or internet—has gained considerable attention in the media. Discussions have focused on the perceived negative impacts of sexting, particularly on young people, which include the sharing of images without consent, the legal implications of sexting, mental health impacts and potential connections between sexting and other risky behaviours.
A literature review was undertaken by Klettke, Hallford and Mellor (2014) to examine what empirical data exists to inform discussions around sexting. This article describes the findings.
Klettke et al. (2014) undertook a systematic literature review to determine the prevalence of sexting, as well as the ages and other demographic information about who is sending and receiving sexts. They sought to find out information about people’s attitudes towards sexting, reasons for sexting and what outcomes may be associated with sexting, for example mental health outcomes. The authors reviewed 31 papers that had undertaken empirical quantitative research. The papers were published in the peer-reviewed literature, and studies had been undertaken in Australia, the Czech Republic and United States.
Klettke et al. (2014) found the prevalence of people sending sexts to be:
The prevalence of people receiving sexts was slightly higher in both groups:
They also found that the prevalence of sexting increases with age among adolescents, but not among adults, and that people who are in a relationship are more likely to engage in sexting. These results suggest that, contrary to popular belief, young adults are more likely to engage in sexting than teenagers, and sexting may be a common behaviour in established young adult relationships.
The research found that:
Some of the studies reviewed looked at demographic factors such as race, sexual orientation, education or employment status but results were mixed and no clear associations between these factors and sexting were able to be determined.
This study highlights what we know about sexting, but also shows the current knowledge gaps and demonstrates the need to develop consistent definitions of terms such as ‘sexting’ and ‘sexts’. It also highlights the need for more research with larger samples. Australian research published in 2015 by the Australian Institute of Criminology examines the prevalence and motivations for sexting among young people in Australia, and an article, published in The Conversation, points to the lack of opportunities for young people to share their opinions on sexting. The study by Klettke and colleagues calls for future research that differentiates between sending and receiving sexts, that focuses on how explicit the messages are and examines the use of photos. However, there is also a need for research that explores young people’s opinions about sexting and that explores positive outcomes associated with sexting.
Klettke, B., Hallford, D. J., & Mellor, D. J. (2014) Sexting prevalence and correlates: A systematic literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(1), 44–53.
1. These prevalence rates should be used with caution as there was a wide variation in the studies.
Feature image by Clique Images, CC0 1.0.
Jessica is a Senior Research Officer in the Family Policy and Practice Research team.
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