Sexting Influenced by Peer Pressure

Texting is a convenient way to instantly check in with friends, but it also has risks associated. Many teens engage in what’s called sexting, which refers to text messages that include intimate conversations and nude pictures or video. A recent study offers an explanation for the popularity of sexting among teens.

The practice of sexting has become widespread among young people. To better understand the reasons behind teen participation, researchers led by Tilburg School of Humanities’ Mariek Vanden Abeele, Ph.D. examined the influence of peer group dynamics. The researchers found a significant association between a teen’s social standing and their mobile porn use and sexting patterns.

Findings show teens are aware of risks associated with using a mobile phone to exchange intimate information. As a result, the researchers believed that peer pressure and a desire to be popular in a peer group may play an important role in teens’ decisions whether to engage in sexting. In addition, the researchers noted that neither scholars nor public opinion leaders were paying much attention to the sexting phenomenon.

Another recent study has supported the idea that peer pressure and sexting are related to trying to gain status in a social group. That research team looked at four aspects of peer group dynamics, including same-sex popularity, other-sex popularity, need for popularity and perceived peer pressure and how they relate to sexting and mobile porn use among those ages 11-20.

One key finding is that for boys sexting was found to be associated with higher self-perceived popularity among both female and male peers. However, girls associated sexting with being more popular among boys, but less popular with other females.

A second key finding shows that mobile porn use was almost completely limited to males, and especially by those boys that reported higher levels of peer pressure. The authors say that the finding suggests that along with earlier findings that show a connection between the use of magazine and other types of pornography, the use of such material is often at least as much about proving one’s “manliness” as it is about sex.

The studies show that among teens, the short-term benefits experienced in the form of enhanced popularity may outweigh the potential risks of engaging in sexting.

Posted under Sex Addiction in the News on Monday, August 4th, 2014