ArticleThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2013
Sexting, substance use, and sexual risk behavior in young adults.
Article in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 357 citations in OpenAlex.
- Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of public health · 2023Pooled it
- Is Sexting Associated with Sexual Behaviors During Adolescence? A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of midwifery & women's health · 2019Pooled it
- Prevalence of Multiple Forms of Sexting Behavior Among Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA pediatrics · 2018Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Theory-Based Digital Animated Video Intervention to Reduce Intention and Willingness to Sext Among Diploma Students: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Non-consensual sexting among adolescents from ethnocultural minority backgrounds: the role of native peer pressure, self-control, and sexual preoccupation.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Active, Passive, and Non-Sexting Adolescents: Testing Deviancy and Normalcy Perspectives Across Risk-Related and Sexual Competence Variables.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- The Association Between Pathological Personality Domains and Aggravated and Risky Sexting in a Sample of Emerging Adults.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Substance Use While Sexting Moderates the Effect of Sexual Identity Development on Offline and Online Sexting Consequences Among Adolescent Sexual Minority Males.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Sexting Behaviors and Fear of Missing out Among Young Adults.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Prevalence of motorcycle accidents and associated factors among road traffic accident victims in Accra, Ghana.Ghana medical journal · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between positive parenting and youths' engagement in sexting behaviors: the mediating role of filial self-efficacy beliefs.Computers in human behavior · 2024Article
- School prevention of non-consensual sexting among middle adolescents: Does sexual preoccupation awareness matter?Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Sexting Behaviors Before and During COVID-19 in Italian and Colombian Young Adults.Sexuality research & social policy : journal of NSRC : SR & SP · 2023Article
- Motivations, Behaviors and Expectancies of Sexting: The Role of Defensive Strategies and Social Media Addiction in a Sample of Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Influence of preventive sex education programmes in compulsory secondary education students: a descriptive observational study.BMC public health · 2022Observational
- Longitudinal Associations between Social Relationships and Alcohol Use from Adolescence into Young Adulthood: The Role of Religiousness.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2022Article
- Assessing the Prevalence and Determinants of Exposure-Influenced HIV Testing among a Sample of Pre- and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis-Naïve Young Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- A Snapshot of Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA): Narrating a Way Forward.Sexuality research & social policy : journal of NSRC : SR & SP · 2022Article
- The Three Dimensions of Unsolicited Dick Pics: Men Who have Sex with Men's Experiences of Sending and Receiving Unsolicited Dick Pics on Dating Apps.Sexuality & culture · 2022Article
- Victimization as a Result of Non-Consensual Dissemination of Sexting and Psychopathology Correlates: An Exploratory Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeCell phone use has become more widespread over the past decade. Young adults are frequently early adopters of new technologies, including cell phones. Most previous research examining sexting, the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive images via text message, has focused on the legal or social consequences of this behavior. The current study focused on the public health implications of sexting by examining associations between sexting, substance use, and sexual risk behavior in youth.
methodsYoung adults (N = 763) completed online questionnaires assessing demographics, cell phone use (e.g., texting, sexting), substance use, and sexual risk behaviors.
resultsSexting was reported by a substantial minority of participants (44%). Compared with their nonsexting counterparts, participants who engaged in sexting were more likely to report recent substance use and high-risk sexual behaviors, including unprotected sex and sex with multiple partners. Of those who engaged in sexting, a considerable percentage (31.8%) reported having sex with a new partner for the first time after sexting with that person. In multivariate analyses, sexting was associated with high-risk sexual behavior, after accounting for demographic factors, total texting behaviors, and substance use.
conclusionsResults suggest that sexting is robustly associated with high-risk sexual behavior. Many individuals exchange explicit or provocative photos with long-term sexual partners, but at least some participants in this study were incurring new sexual risks after sexting. Additional research is needed to understand the contexts in which sexting occurs, motivations for sexting, and relationship of sexting to risk behavior.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.