Abstract
Introduction
Even with growing interest in sexting research, not much is known about individual and cross-cultural predictors of sexting behaviors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine individual and cross-cultural factors associated with sexting.
Methods
A sample of 2571 adults (55.62% women and 44.38% men) aged 18 to 53 years (Mage = 21.35, SDage = 1.07, 48.70%) from two southeastern European countries (48.70% from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 51.30% from Croatia) participated in the online study, which was conducted from February to April 2022. At the individual level, we examined gender, age, relationship status, religiosity, sexting attitudes, and sexually permissive attitudes. At the cross-cultural level, we examined individualism–collectivism, gender inequality, and masculinity–femininity.
Results
The results showed that attitudes varied cross-culturally as a function of people’s country of residence and this clustering effect was controlled for in all subsequent models. The individual-level predictors (Level 1) of male gender (βsending = − .07, p <.01; βreceiving = − .07, p <.001; βforwarding = − .06, p <.05), being in an intimate relationship (βsending = .26, p <.001; βreceiving = .22, p <.05; βforwarding = .23, p <.001), low religiosity (βreceiving = .02, p <.01), positive attitudes towards sexting (βsending = .50, p <.001; βreceiving = .39, p <.001; βforwarding = .44, p <.001), and positive attitudes towards sexual permissiveness (βsending = .50, p <.05; βreceiving = .06, p <.05; βforwarding = .07, p <.05) were significantly linked with sexting behavior. At the cross-cultural level (Level 2), a high emphasis on individualism (βsending = .04, p <.001; βreceiving = .04, p <.05; βforwarding = .03, p <.001), low gender inequality (βsending = − .08, p <.001; βreceiving = − .07, p <.05; βforwarding = − .07, p <.001), and low masculinity (βsending = − .08, p <.001; βreceiving = − .07, p <.05; βforwarding = − .07, p <.001) were related to higher levels of sexting practice. The findings indicate the main effects of the predictors at both levels; however, the individual-level variables tended to yield stronger coefficients than cross-cultural-level factors.
Conclusions
Our results further suggest that sexting practices not only manifest at the level of the individual, but also at the level of an individual’s cultural environment. These findings have implications for understanding the factors that are important in explaining sexting behavior in culturally diverse adult populations, with individual factors being more important than cross-cultural factors in both Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Croatian adults.
Policy Implications
The findings can help develop targeted, successful interventions that address cultural and individual differences, to mitigate the negative effects of sexting.
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Availability of Data and Material
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Code Availability
The coding of this study is available on request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the participants in this study and the SextYouth research team for their contributions to this manuscript.
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This paper is an output of the science project Nature and determinants of sexting among adolescents and youth: A cross-national study funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (Grant number 3553).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Arta Dodaj and Kristina Sesar. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Arta Dodaj and Kristina Sesar commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Dodaj, A., Sesar, K. Individual and Cross-Cultural Predictors of Sexting Among Adults from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Sex Res Soc Policy 20, 1537–1551 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00807-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-023-00807-1