Sexting and emotional regulation strategies among young adults

Sexting as a common adolescent behavior might me related with difficulties of emotion regulation, a skillset that draws on identifying the relationship between behaviors and emotions and then creating strategies for regulating such emotions. The aim of this study was to explore the relation between sexting and emotional regulation strategies. The study involved 440 respondents, aged 18 to 25. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was used to measure emotional regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression). Sexting Behaviors Scale was used to assess the frequency of receiving, sending and posting sexually suggestive or provocative texts, photos or videos. Result showed that boys use the strategy of expressive suppression more intense than girls. Statistically significant low correlation was found between posting sexually suggestive content and cognitive reappraisal. Furthermore, gender has been found to be a significant predictor of engagement in the activity of sexting behavior.  The results suggest that exchange of sexually suggestive content among youth, which shows low incidence, cannot be defined as an indicator of difficulties in emotional regulation.