Sext Me Ur (.) (.) – Prevalence and Correlates of Sexting in a Sample of Australian Young People

Methods: A convenience sample of youth aged 16-29 recruited at a Melbourne music festival in 2013 completed a survey on sexual and other behaviours. The primary outcome of interest was whether participants had ever sexted, defined as having ‘sent or received sexually explicit photographs or messages online or via mobile phone.’ Correlates of sexting were determined using invariable logistic regression. results: 1403 people completed a questionnaire; 66% were female and the median age was 19 years. Overall, 552 (40%) had ever engaged in sexting; 223 (48%) males and 329 (36%) females. Sexting was most commonly reported with regular partners (441, 80%), but people also reported sexting casual partners (238, 43%), friends (199, 36%), and strangers (103, 19%). Factors associated with sexting included being male (OR 1.58, 95%CI 1.26-1.98), older age (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.06-1.66), reporting six or more lifetime sexual partners (OR 3.25, 95%CI 2.50-4.23), inconsistent condom use with regular partner(s) (OR 1.52, 95%CI 1.16-2.00), inconsistent condom use with casual partner(s) (OR 1.78, 95%CI 1.26-2.50), multiple partners in the last year (OR 1.58, 95%CI 1.23-2.02), drinking six or more alcoholic drinks in a single episode at least weekly (OR 2.17, 95%CI 1.63-2.90), and having ever used illicit drugs (OR 2.02, 95%CI 1.62-2.52). Conclusion: Sexting is a common practice among young Australians and is associated with various risk behaviours. Further research is underway to examine young peoples’ motivations for sexting, as well as their perceptions of positive and negative consequences of sexting. Disclosure of Interest Statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare