Associations of sexting with dating partners with adolescents’ romantic relationship behaviors and attitudes

Abstract

Although most sexting among adolescents occurs in the context of romantic relationships, researchers have not fully investigated how relationships involving sexting differ from those that do not. This study assessed how individual and relationship characteristics differ by whether adolescent dating partners sext (N = 269). Adolescents in sexting relationships were more likely to report sexual intercourse with their dating partner compared to those who did not sext, scored lower on measures of self-reported relationship competency, and were in relationships characterized by more abusive behaviors and verbal conflict, as well as less positive support. Boys who sexted their dating partners reported less positive intimacy in their relationships than girls who sexted. Adolescents in relationships where one partner sent more sexts than the other did not report more negative relationship behaviors relative to non-sexters and those who sent equal numbers of sexts. Lastly, relationships with and without sexting did not differ on whether they had broken up six months later. Results suggest that sexting may be a characteristic of lower-quality adolescent romantic relationships, but more information about the sexting context is needed. Implications for understanding sexting as both a normative feature of adolescent romantic relationships and as a risky sexual behavior are discussed.

Lay summary

This study found that teenagers who sext with their romantic partners may have more romantic relationship problems than teenagers who do not sext with their partners. However, we need more information about whether teenagers are participating willingly in sexting to know whether sexting is actually bad for relationships.

Keywords:

• Sexting
• adolescents
• romantic relationships
• aggression

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.