A first investigation into gender minority adolescents’ sexting experiences
Open accessAbstract
INTRODUCTION: Gender minority adolescents, such as transgender, gender nonconforming, gender diverse and non-binary youth, may face unique challenges with regard to online sexual communication. They may be especially vulnerable for sexting-related risks. The aim of this study is to explore the sexting experiences of gender minority youth among a school-based sample. METHODS: This brief exploratory study reports on a survey that was conducted among 1293 respondents with an average age of 14.79 years old (SD = 1.97) in the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium, and compares engagement in sexting experiences between cisgender and gender minority youth. RESULTS: The results of our exploratory study show that gender minority adolescents were more likely to have ever been pressured to send a sexting image. There were no significant differences with regard to receiving sexts, or receiving forwarded sexts. None of the gender minority youth reported that they had forwarded a sexting image from someone else, as opposed to 9.3% of cisgender youth who had forwarded a sext. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the explorative nature of our study, the results suggest that gender minority youth may be at an increased risk to experience sexting-related pressure. Additional research is needed to investigate the sexting experiences of gender minority adolescents. Gender minority youth may benefit from education about safer sexting, and specifically ways to cope with sexting-related pressure.
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Most cyberbullying research that includes TGD individuals is focused on LGBT adolescents rather than on the wider LGBTQIA+ community or TGD individuals specifically.
“Most cyberbullying research that includes TGD individuals is focused on LGBT adolescents rather than on the wider LGBTQIA+ community or TGD individuals specifically [3,22,23,24].”
From A Phenomenological Investigation into Cyberbullying as Experienced by People Identifying as Transgender or Gender Diverse (2022) · cites this paper as [22]
LGBT adolescents are disproportionally more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than their heterosexual and cisgender peers.
“LGBT adolescents are disproportionally more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than their heterosexual and cisgender peers [3,22,23]”
From A Phenomenological Investigation into Cyberbullying as Experienced by People Identifying as Transgender or Gender Diverse (2022) · cites this paper as [22]
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- Authors
- Van Ouytsel, J., Walrave, M., De Marez, L., Vanhaelewyn, B., & Ponnet, K.
- Affiliations
- Department of Communication Studies MIOS University of Antwerp Sint‐Jacobsstraat 2 2000 Antwerp Belgium
- University of Antwerp (BE)
- Department of Communication Studies IMEC‐MICT‐Ghent University Ghent Belgium
- Ghent University (BE)
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescence
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-09-29
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 213-218
- ISSN
- 0140-1971 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9254
- OpenAlex
- W3091238350
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 3.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Research Foundation - Flanders (12J8719N)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- sexting, transgender youth, gender nonconforming youth, non-binary youth, cisgender youth, school-based adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Peer Influence, Sexual and Gender Minorities, Adolescent, Belgium, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sexual Behavior, Text Messaging
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