Unsolicited Sexting and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Unsolicited Sexting and Legal Perspectives
1.2. Why Is Help-Seeking Important?
1.3. Research Gaps and the Present Study
2. Methods
Participants
3. Materials
3.1. Sexting Behaviours
3.2. Help-Seeking Behaviours
3.3. Procedure
3.4. Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses
4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Descriptives and Quantitative Analyses
4.2. Qualitative Analysis
4.3. “It’s Just an Image”
4.4. “It’s an Awkward Experience to Talk About”
4.5. “I Did Not Realise It Was a Violation”
4.6. “I Didn’t Know Where to Go”
5. Implications
6. Limitations
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Variable | Count | Statistic |
---|---|---|
Age | 389 | M = 21.83, SD = 2.84, Range 18–30 years |
Gender | ||
Men | 56 | 14.4% |
Woman | 324 | 83.8% |
Non-binary | 8 | 2.1% |
Ethnicity | ||
Australian | 278 | 71.8% |
British/European | 39 | 10.1% |
Asian | 33 | 8.5% |
Other ethnic groups | 41 | 9.6% |
Sexual orientation | ||
Heterosexual | 241 | 62.3% |
Bisexual | 106 | 27.4 |
Lesbian/gay | 19 | 4.9% |
Uncertain | 13 | 3.4% |
Other | 8 | 2.1% |
Relationship status | 53.2% | |
In a committed relationship | 206 | 53.2% |
Single | 143 | 37% |
In a casual relationship | 34 | 8.8% |
Preferred not to say | 4 | 1% |
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Variable | Men | Women | Non-Binary | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | |
Sent sext | 188 (62) | 115 (38) | 371 (76.5) | 114 (23.5) | 10 (66.7) | 5 (33.3) |
Received sext | 252 (77.8) | 72 (22.2) | 480 (89.2) | 58 (10.8) | 15 (88.2) | 2 (11.8) |
Received unwanted | 66 (26.2) | 186 (73.8) | 389 (81) | 91 (19) | 10 (66.7) | 5 (33.3) |
Sought help | 1 (1.5) | 64 (98.5) | 8 (2.1) | 373 (97.9) | 0 (0) | 10 (100) |
Theme | Responses | Count (n) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | M | W | NB/ND | ||
It’s just an image | Ignored it | 36 | 8 | 27 | 1 |
Moved on | 17 | 3 | 14 | - | |
Had no (emotional) impact | 96 | 24 | 69 | 2/1 | |
It’s just an image/not a big deal/not necessary to seek support for | 105 | 15 | 86 | 3/1 | |
Common experience/used to it | 47 | 2 | 44 | 1 | |
It’s an awkward experience to talk about | Negative emotions (embarrassment, stigma, fear of judgement) | 40 | 5 | 34 | 1 |
Not being taken seriously/nobody would care | 13 | 1 | 12 | - | |
I did not realise it was a violation | Young | 8 | - | 8 | - |
Unaware the receipt of unwanted sexts was a violation | 12 | - | 12 | - | |
I didn’t know where to go | Unaware of support options—where to go and who to talk to | 32 | 1 | 31 | - |
Not much can be done about the incident/it is too much hassle | 22 | 1 | 21 | - | |
The receipt of unsolicited sexts was a one-off, would warrant help-seeking if it was a recurrent issue | 6 | 2 | 4 | - |
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Howard, D.; Ryter, S.; Hu, Y.; Clancy, E.M.; Klettke, B.; Klas, A. Unsolicited Sexting and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study. Soc. Sci. 2024, 13, 289. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13060289
Howard D, Ryter S, Hu Y, Clancy EM, Klettke B, Klas A. Unsolicited Sexting and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study. Social Sciences. 2024; 13(6):289. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13060289
Chicago/Turabian StyleHoward, Dominika, Sonia Ryter, Yunhao Hu, Elizabeth Mary Clancy, Bianca Klettke, and Anna Klas. 2024. "Unsolicited Sexting and Help-Seeking Behaviours among Australian Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study" Social Sciences 13, no. 6: 289. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13060289