Sexting behavior among adults in Turkey and its relationship with self-esteem and risky sexual behavior

DURMUŞ H., Solak Y.

SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP THERAPY, vol.39, no.1, pp.35-45, 2024 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 39 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/14681994.2021.1959029
  • Journal Name: SEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP THERAPY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ASSIA, CINAHL, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Gender Studies Database, Psycinfo, Violence & Abuse Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.35-45
  • Keywords: Sexting, relationship, cybersex, self-esteem, risky sexual behavior
  • Erciyes University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to determine the sexting

behavior among adults, the cause of sexting, consequences of

sexting and to evaluate the relationship between risky sexual

behavior and self-esteem

Methods: The study was completed with 5464 participants. The

individuals were grouped as the sender, recipient, or two-way

sexter. The 10-item second section evaluates self-esteem

(Rosenberg), and the 10-item third section evaluates risky sexual

behavior (Stulhofer).

Results: Mean age was 27.63 ± 7.95 years and 71.3% of the participants

were male. Sexting rate of the participants was 55.5%. Who

never had sexting 27.1%, and who sent and received sexual messages

was 56.4% and 72.0%, respectively. Although there was no

significant correlation between self-esteem and sexting behavior.

Over 25 years old were 2.19 times, bisexuals and gay/lesbian 2.02

times, single individuals 2.65 times, and those exhibiting risky

sexual behaviors were 2.35 times more prone to sexting

behavior

Conclusion: This study was conducted on sexting with large participation

in Turkey more than half of the participants exhibited

sexting was higher especially among young adults. Even though

there was no relationship between self-esteem and sexting behavior,

it was found that the rate of sexting behavior was higher in

individuals with risky sexual behavior.

Lay Summary

We report sexting among Turkish adults. In all with our knowledge

this is first study about sexting behavior in Turkey. Turkey is look

like half Europe and half middle east because of that it is good

to show behavior about sexting and risky sexual behavior in this

population.