Sexy online self-presentation on social network sites and the willingness to engage in sexting: A comparison of gender and age
Open accessAbstract
The present study investigated whether engaging in sexy self-presentations on social network sites (SNSs) or exposure to sexy self-presentations on SNSs predicts the willingness to engage in sexting. A second aim of the present study was to investigate whether adolescent girls demonstrate stronger relationships between (exposure to) sexy online self-presentations on SNSs and willingness to sext than adolescent boys and young adult men and women. A two-wave panel survey among 953 Dutch adolescents (13-17 years old, 50.7% male) and 899 Dutch young adults (18-25 years old, 43.9% male) showed that engaging in sexy self-presentations on SNSs increased the willingness to engage in sexting, but only among adolescent girls. Exposure to sexy self-presentations of others did not predict the willingness to engage in sexting. The findings call for more research on the role of gender and age in the link between sexy self-presentation and sexting.
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Behaviors such as sexy online self-presentation and concerns about body image make girls more at risk of online sexual harassment.
“Behaviors such as sexy online self-presentation and concerns about body image make girls more at risk of online sexual harassment [63,64,65].”
From Cybervictimization and Online Sexual Harassment: Prevalence, Association, and Predictors (2024) · cites this paper as [65]
The Discussion reports that sexy online self-presentation predicted willingness to sext among adolescent girls and that sexting has been associated with sexual harassment. It does not show that self-presentation directly increases harassment risk, and it does not link body-image concerns to harassment. The claim also states a causal relationship more strongly than the paper does. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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“According to the principles of self-perception theory (Bem, 1972), there is reason to expect that young people's sharing of sexually suggestive pictures of themselves on SNSs and their willingness to engage in sexting are related to each other.”
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- Authors
- van Oosten, J. M. F., & Vandenbosch, L.
- Affiliations
- Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) University of Amsterdam Postbus 15791 1001 NG Amsterdam The Netherlands
- University of Antwerp (BE)
- ORCID
- Vandenbosch, Laura
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescence
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-11-17
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 42-50
- ISSN
- 0140-1971 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9254
- OpenAlex
- W2550205055
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7
- FWCI
- 11.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- sexting, social network sites, online self-presentation, gender differences, age differences, adolescents, young adults
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sexual Behavior, Sex Factors, Young Adult, Social Media
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