Sexting, Substance Use, and Sexual Risk Behavior

Sexting is defined as receiving, sending, or forwarding explicit sexual photographs or messages to another individual. 

Sexual risk behavior is any activity that will enhance the probability of a person involving themselves in sexual activity with a person who has a sexually transmitted disease. In this case, pregnancy is also bound to occur. 

In the World Health Organization database, substance abuse refers to the hazardous use of illicit drugs and alcohol, which often leads to difficulty in controlling the drug usage. 

In today’s society, sexting is viewed as a regular activity and even encouraged as a remedy for healthy relationships, and the evidence to support this theory is proliferating. 

The higher percentage of the research done on sexting leans towards the negative consequences, as well as how sexting links to problematic behaviors. 

66% of all the articles written indicate that sexting is a dangerous and unhealthy behavior that leads to so many adverse outcomes. 

In 2008, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy published a survey that included the relationship between sexting and risky sexual behavior. 

The findings indicated that 59% of the young adults, ages 20- 26, have engaged in sending or posing sexually suggestive messages or images of themselves. 

In their perspective, the act of sexting made dating someone more likely since it released the tension between the two people involved. 

For any scholars to be in a position to come up with programs that promote safer sex, then they need a better understanding of the connection between sexting, substance abuse, and risky sexual behavior. 

Sexting is a high-risk behavior and should categorize with other sensitive and hazardous activities like having multiple sexual partners or engaging in unprotected sex. 

However, some of the scholars disagree with these findings because they found discrepancies in these assumptions. 

These scholars indicate that the conclusions they came found needs extra caution, given the potential for upward bias. 

Part of the research indicates that any youth who sends sexual photos of themselves has a higher chance to be using drugs as well as has low self-esteem. 

These young adults also have a high tendency to engage in dangerous sexual behavior, depending on their social circle. 

Sexting may seem like just a simple act of exchanging messages. Still, in the real sense, it is related to a wide range of behaviors, which include psychological challenge and risky sexual behavior. 

Not all youth, who share sexual photos, engage in risky behavior or substance abuse. One-third of these teens indicate that they are in the experiment phase, where they share the images to seek attention from the opposite sex or for romantic purposes. 

The majority of the teens who voluntarily sent photos did so with recipients they knew individually, and one in three youth issued the images or messages with recipients they know online. 

In the sexting language, there is a term known as aggravated sexting, which mostly involves adults harassing teens by sending them sexual photos and messages. 

These incidences that come up to the police's attention include sexual adult offenders who have developed relationships and seduced specific individuals in this manner. 

The age difference between the sender and the recipient plays a significant role in any situation because it could be used to contextualize whether the behavior needs action for a more substantial cause of harassment and in need of a more serious intervention. 

Some of the individuals who engage in aggravated sexing are mostly sexual predators who mostly pick their victims online, start a friendly relationship, then, later on, become aggressive if things do not go as planned with their victims. 

Technology has played a crucial part in expanding the level of sexting, which leads to substance abuse and sexual risk in young adults. For example, in the United States, Americans spend over 2 trillion messages every year. 

30% of households in America have telephone connections. 83% of young adults own cell phones, which makes the chances for sexting higher . 

The cycle continues in that as soon the sexting begins, then the substance abuse and sexually risky behavior follow in most instances. 

The texting form of communication is prevalent among teens and young adults. More than half of the teenagers who own a cell phone text another friend at least once a day, and the other one third is reported to sending over 100 texts daily. 

There is a relationship that exists between sexting and high-risk sexual behavior in that the action remains even after putting into consideration the demographic factors, texting behavior, and substance abuse. 

In the research done, one-third of the individuals who participated reported having intimate relations with a new partner for the first time after sexting with them. 

The survey done is a perfect confirmation that sexting is a form of technology-mediated flirtation strategy. 

The same study shows that most explicit photos are between people who have been in a relationship for a long time. 

The main ethical guidelines for Internet Mediated Research (IMR) have been sub-divided into four distinct sets of principles. They include; scientific integrity, social responsibility, maximizing benefits and reducing harm, and lastly, respect for the autonomy, privacy, and dignity of people and communities. 

Concerning the research on sexting, substance use, and sexual risk behavior, Internet Mediated Research (IMR) is very important in that, the information provided in the research forums needs examination before putting it in the public eye. 

Scientific integrity, as one of the IMR, is part of the ethical issues since it provides insulation from bias, fabrication, plagiarism, and falsification. Social responsibility is also crucial because the group doing the research have a responsibility towards how society perceives the information reaching them. In this case, the study has to be informative as well as truthful. 

In the Internet Mediated Research, reducing harm and increasing benefits is also crucial since the research used should have more merits than demerits for it to be effective. 

Protecting the privacy of the people who have participated in the survey is also ethical since some of them would have negative consequences if their identities were put out into the world. 

The validity of any data collected is also crucial since the same information given can be used by other people who are working on the same research. 

Truthfulness with the data can improve accuracy in the research done, and this gives a chance for a more stable outcome and data collection in the given entity. 

In conclusion, sexting, sexual risk behavior, and substance abuse are all linked together because they all lead from one thing into the next. 

Young adults should also be advised and taught on how to handle requests for sexual pictures. This information can only occur by issuing them with proven sex education, sexual harassment a well as social and emotional programs.