Sexting: Sexy and Scandalous for College Students

OXFORD, Ohio - Dec. 7, 2015 - PRLog -- One of the most controversial topics of the 21st century, “sexting” continues to evolve on America’s college campuses. Snapchat, Tinder, Skype, Email, Text Messaging and other forms of electronic communications and social media have seemingly transformed sexting from shameful to universal.

Opinions about sexting vary greatly, usually generationally, with a great deal of scorn heaped on Millennials for this practice. In an attempt to unravel fact from fiction, an undergraduate research team at Miami University recently conducted a national survey to ascertain how college students feel about sexting. The team received responses from 1,557 students nationwide, which provides a snapshot of the sexting epidemic on college campuses.

The survey reveals many new insights about sexting, including:

-- 98 percent of respondents claimed to have sexted personally or know someone who had engaged in the practice. A more disconcerting finding centered on the number of students who had forwarded a sext without the sender’s consent.

-- 49 percent of those surveyed revealed that they or someone they know had “forwarded or shared a sext beyond its intended recipient.”

-- However, 75 percent of student respondents revealed that they had no knowledge of a sext they sent ever being forwarded. The survey demonstrated that there is a basic disconnect between the pervasiveness of sexting and the number forwarded without consent.

“People our age are so obsessed with technology that they share everything and don’t think twice about it,” said Jillian Blaszczyk, a student at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. “The idea that sexting is now considered normal is not surprising.”

While forwarding sexual explicit messages and images is happening behind the backs of many senders, those in relationships have a completely different feeling about the topic. Some 74 percent of respondents had sent images/messages to their partner while in a relationship, with 80 percent deeming the activity acceptable. Of those who had sexted while in a relationship, approximately 70 percent claimed it “helped” the relationship with only 3 percent saying it “hurt.” Clearly, according to respondents, sexting while in a relationship is considered cheating, with 91 percent indicating that it is “a form of cheating.”

The pervasiveness of sexting has other ramifications for college students, particularly the pressure that might be exerted on young people to send sexts to strangers, acquaintances, or while in relationships. Some 43 percent of respondents revealed that they had “felt pressured” to send a sext.

“Honestly sexting nowadays is just expected in a relationship. It brings you and your partner closer together,” said Rich Malacrea, a student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.

The ease of sending sexts certainly adds to its prevalence. Students are primarily using text messaging (76 percent) or Snapchat (68 percent) to engage with others. While Tinder has received a great deal of negative publicity for its role in facilitating the “hookup culture,” only 7 percent claim to use the site for sending sexts.

About the Miami University Undergraduate Research Team

A research team of undergraduate strategic communication students at Miami University researched, designed, and compiled a national survey to examine how college students around the country perceive sexting (sending sexually suggestive images and/or messages), under the direction of Bob Batchelor, Ph.D. Some 1,557 students responded anonymously. The survey results provide insight into college student thinking about the activity. The research team based its work on the fundamental question: how do college students engage in and perceive sexting?