Selected Correlations of Sexting among Secondary School Students and Young Adults
Vol.17,No.1(2025)
This article discusses sexting as a form of cyberbullying and its selected correlations in three groups: secondary school students, university students, and adults aged 18–45. Research conducted between 2020 and 2025 revealed that the phenomenon of sexting has changed over time, that there are differences between the sexes, and that protective and risk factors vary depending on the age of the respondents. Analyses of gender differences showed that girls experience sexting significantly more often. There were different patterns of relationships between age and sexting: among secondary school students, the frequency increased with age, while among university students and adults it decreased. The results concerning personality traits showed that among secondary school students, sexting was associated with openness to experience, and among adults with lower conscientiousness. The key predictor was the educational functionality of the family of origin: lower functionality was associated with more frequent sexting among school pupils and adults. The results confirm the relationship between sexting and age, which implies the need to adapt preventive measures to the stage of life and the specific psychosocial functioning of the groups studied.
sexting, secondary school students, university students, adults, educational functionality of the family of origin, Big Five personality traits
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