By Mark Young, SouthFloridaReporter.com Managing Editor, Aug 9, 2015 – I guess it was bound to happen, a group of psychologists have completed a study on “sexting”. What they found may surprise you. Have you been sexting?
By Talal Al-khatib, Discovery, Aug 9, 2015 – Sexting often gets a bad rap. Frequently portrayed in media as a kind of scourge among America’s youth, sexting can also play a role in adult intimacy that’s often overlooked.
A presentation delivered Saturday at the American Psychological Association’s 123rd Annual Convention examines sexting as a potential positive in adult relationships. “Most of the research looks at sexting as dangerous,” Emily Stasko of Drexel University told Discovery News. “But if it were only bad, it wouldn’t be as popular as it is.”
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Stasko and her co-author, Pamela Geller, associate professor at Drexel University, surveyed 870 adults ranging in age from 18 to 82 years old to assess sexting behaviors and their influence on relationships. Among those surveyed, nearly 88 percent reported ever having sexted in their lifetimes. Eight-two percent acknowledged they had sexted within the past year.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents sexted within the context of a committed relationship, according to the survey results, and 43 percent engaged in sexting within a casual relationship. Although high-profile sexting stories, most notably the Anthony Weiner scandals in 2011 and again in 2013, tend to link the behavior with infidelity, only 12 percent of survey participants sexted in a cheating relationship.
Respondents who sexted generally reported higher levels of sexual and relationship satisfaction, though the association isn’t necessarily cause-and-effect. “We just know that there are these associations between sexting and these positive sexual and relationship outcomes,” Stasko said. “But we don’t know what the factors are that are driving those relationships.”
