Sexting and Emotion Regulation
A. Dodaj and K. Sesar / Viewpoint: Sexting and Emotion Regulation
Young people who engage in sexting have a higher risk of engaging in risky sexual behaviors (Gordon- Messer, Bauermeister, Grodzinski, & Zimmerman, 2013). Further, sexting is more common among young people from dysfunctional families (Gordon- Messer et al., 2013) and in young people with certain character traits, such as extroversion and neuroticism (Delevi & Weisskrich, 2013). More recently some authors have mentioned that dysfunctional styles of emotion regulation may be an important predictor for risky behavior, including sexting (Cooper, Quayle, Jonsson, & Svedin, 2016).
Emotion regulation is most widely defined as the process by which individuals influence emotions, and how they will experience and express emotions (Gross, 1998). However, recently other authors (e.g. Gratz, Weiss, & Tull, 2015) argued that defining emotion regulation as a strategy of modulation emo- tions is too simplistic. Therefore, it was proposed a conceptualization of emotion regulation as ability to monitor, accept, and understand emotions (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Cooper, Wood, Orcutt, and Albino (2003) have suggested that dysfunctional styles of regulating emotions and emotionally driven behav- iors may be an important predictor of risky behaviors in adolescence. Adolescents who lack skills for deal- ing with their emotional experiences may be more likely to engage in risky behaviors in an effort to deal with their negative affect or block out their feelings.
The aim of this viewpoint is to examine the existing literature on sexting and emotion regula- tion. To our knowledge, there are no recent reviews specifically analysing evidence on emotion strategies or abilities among sexters. Looking at the stud- ies that examine association between sexting and emotion regulation across all age categories pro- vided basis for more definitive conclusions that cannot be drawn from the data based on a single study. Moreover, conclusion drawn from synthesis of data could be informative for future researchers and practitioners.
Relation between Sexting and Emotion Regulation Difficulties: A Review of the
Literature
This systematic review was conducted following the principles set by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA; Liberati, Altman, Tetzlaff, Mulrow, & Gøtzsche, 2009). The electronic literature search was car-
ried out using the following databases: EbscoHOST (PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES), ERIC, ResearchGate, SCOPUS, and Web of Science database. The search included any combination of the following terms in the title, abstract, and keywords: sext*, sexting*, sex*, nude*, explicit*, image*, photo*, picture*, message*, video*, control*, rumination*, accep- tance*, suppression*, problem solving*, avoidance*, reappraisal*, self-compassion*, emotion*, affect*, mood*, feeling*, regulation*; competence*, aware- ness*, and tolerance*. The search was performed in April 2019.
The inclusion criterion was that sexting and aspect of emotion regulation have been the main focus of the article. Editorials, commentaries, or letters to the edi- tor were excluded from the search results, but we went through their references to check if we missed some published studies. No exclusion criteria were given for location, year of publication, and study design. For language, we restrained the search to English and language mastered by the authors (Croatian, German, and Italian). Overall, our electronic search yielded 56 records, and 29 duplicate results have been excluded (Fig. 1). After additionally exclud- ing articles as summarized in Figure 1, four articles remained that have been included and reviewed. After a thorough and systematic search has been con- ducted, the classification framework was designed. Five major themes were identified and coded. Themes related to sex were coded from A (women) to B (male); those linked to age were coded with schemes as adolescents (A), adult (B), and both (C); methods themes were coded as computer-based (A) and (paper-and-pencil-questionnaire) survey, while themes related to measurement (sexting and emotion regulation) were coded as standardized instrument (A) or self-developed items (B). Two researchers analysed separately the content and after that checked for consistency. The classification framework is pre- sented in Table 1.
Four studies (Curro, 2017; Houck et al., 2014; Sesar & Dodaj, 2019; Trub & Starks, 2017) have examined the relation between sexting and emotion regulation. In sum, three of the studies, have indi- cated sexting to be related with difficulties in emotion regulation.
Of the four selected studies, two (Sesar & Dodaj, 2019; Trub & Starks, 2017) included a sample of young adults (18–29 years), one (Houck et al., 2014) a sample of early adolescents (12–14 years), and one (Curro, 2017) a variable sample including ado- lescents and adults (18–39). In one study (Trub &
2 International Journal of Developmental Science 1-2/2020, 1–7
A. Dodaj and K. Sesar / Viewpoint: Sexting and Emotion Regulation
Figure 1. Flow of the studies selected through the review process.
Starks, 2017) respondents were only women in inti- mate relationship, other included sex mixed samples, and there were no studies conducted on males only. All conducted studies were cross-sectional, whereas two (Houck et al., 2014; Trub & Starks, 2017) were computer-based studies while other studies fol- lowed a paper-and-pencil-approach. The majority of the studies measured sexting as sending, receiving, or publishing sexually explicit content (messages, images, and/or videos). In two studies authors used the Sexting Behavior Questionnaire (Curro, 2017; Sesar & Dodaj, 2019), in two others sexting was measured with four (Houck et al., 2014), or three self- developed items (Trub & Starks, 2017). Emotion reg- ulation difficulties were mainly measured using Gratz and Roemer’s (2004) Emotional Regulation Scale (Curro, 2017; Houck et al., 2014; Trub & Starks, 2017). A subscale of the Emotional Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) and the Self-Efficacy Ques- tionnaire for Children (Muris, 2002) were used in Houck et al. (2014). The Emotional Regulation Ques- tionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) was used by Sesar and Dodaj (2019) and the modified version of the Difficul-
ties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Giromini, Velotti, de Campora, Bonalume, & Cesare Zavattini, 2012) by Curro (2017).
Relation between Sexting and Emotion Regulation Difficulties: Research Limitations
Our review identified a number of limitations in the research of sexting and related emotion reg- ulation difficulties. Several methodological issues must be interpreted as serious limitations: a) dif- ferences across studies in sampling which represent difficulty in comparing data; b) cross-sectional stud- ies cannot clarify questions regarding causality; c) studies used different methods to gather informa- tion about the relation between sexting and emotion regulation difficulties: some of the studies collected data through computer-based questionnaires, others used paper-and-pencil-questionnaires. While some studies examined sexting using only few items, others used multi-item-questionnaires. Regarding emotion regulation difficulties, various components
International Journal of Developmental Science 1-2/2020, 1–7 3
A. Dodaj and K. Sesar / Viewpoint: Sexting and Emotion Regulation
Ta bl
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