Factores de riesgo asociados al sexting como marco previo para prevenir distintas formas derivadas de victimización --Estudio de factores correlacionados con sexting en una muestra universitaria

In recent years, the emergence of the phenomenon of sexting has generated significant media andsocial concern. The practice of sexting has proven to be problematic, having led to serious psychologicaland legal consequences, particularly in the case of teenagers, highlighting the urgent need to developadequate prevention strategies. Moreover, by sending sexting messages, images or videos, children (andadults) can inadvertently and irreversibly cross a risk threshold that exposes them to different types ofvictimization (blackmail, revenge or simply highly damaging indiscretions). Furthermore, sexting mayconstitute the beginning of sexual crimes initiated via ICTs (Wolak et al. 2004).Initially, the majority of research conducted in this area focused on analysing the prevalence of thephenomenon and the reasons that the people surveyed gave for acting in this way. Despite the differencesbetween the various studies, in terms of the sample type and the parameters for defining the conductbeing quantified, the research irrefutably indicates the global presence of a similar phenomenon. However,the research has hardly begun to explore the possible factors associated with sexting. Going beyond theprevalence of the phenomenon and describing the apparent motives of the people surveyed, the aim ofthe present study is to examine a number of hypotheses on factors associated with sexting, based ona sample of 149 university students in Barcelona (Spain). The results obtained reveal a relatively highrate of sexting conduct in young adults and suggest a significant positive correlation with the following factors: low standards of privacy and modesty, tendency towards promiscuity, approval of pornographyand a lack of moral beliefs. Based on the findings of this research, future studies on sexting are proposed,including a more thorough evaluation of associated risk factors and the identification and proposal ofpossible strategies to prevent the various forms of victimization related to or arising from sexting.