Abstract

RESETT, Santiago. Sexting in adolescents: its prediction from emotional problems and dark personality. Escritos de Psicología [online]. 2019, vol.12, n.2, pp.93-102.  Epub Nov 09, 2020. ISSN 1989-3809.  https://dx.doi.org/10.24310/espsiescpsi.v12i2.10060.

Sexting is the creation and exchange of text messages, videos, images or photos with personal sexual content using new information technologies. The objectives of this study were to analyze the prevalence of sexting in adolescents, on one hand, and if there were differences by gender and age in adolescents and to examine whether the dark personality and emotional problems were predictors of the behaviors of sexting, on the other hand. An intentional sample of 722 adolescents between 12 and 18 years old (56% male) in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and Paraná, Argentina was constituted. Participants completed a sexting questionnaire, measures of emotional problems (depression and anxiety) and a dark personality scale. The results indicated that a prevalence of sexting was: 17.6% (written messages), 18% (pictures), 6.9% (videos), and 21.5% (total). Significant differences were found between males and females due to higher levels of males in sending written messages and for the total. Also, the older the adolescents, the sexting behaviors increased linearly. Results indicated that dark personality -Machiavellianism-, anxious and depressive symptomatology were significant predictors of sexting.

Keywords : sexting; emotional problems; personality; adolescence.

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