RETRACTED ARTICLE

Author(s): Marina Frederike Thomas, Alice Binder, Jörg Matthes
Abstract: During the global COVID-19 pandemic, many people were physically separated from their romantic or sexual partners and added sexting to their sexual repertoire. Sexting involves the exchange of sensitive data and thus necessitates personal and interpersonal privacy management strategies such as information control and privacy boundary communication. This study investigates the psychological predictors of sexting-related privacy management. In an online survey with 494 young adults, we tested demographic psychological, and behavioral correlates of sexting-related privacy management. Negative binomial regressions revealed that age, gender, and asynchronous sexting frequency positively predicted sexting-related privacy management. COVID-19-related social isolation moderated the positive effect of asynchronous sexting frequency: Asynchronous sexting frequency had a positive effect on sexting-related privacy management only in individuals with low or mean COVID-19-related social isolation. For those who perceived high COVID-19-related social isolation, asynchronous sexting frequency had no positive effect. This suggests that in a context of social isolation, even frequent sexters are willing to sacrifice their privacy. Relationship status, privacy concerns, rejection sensitivity, and synchronous sexting frequency were not related to sexting-related privacy management. The results highlight the various effects of COVID-19-related social isolation.
Organisation(s): Department of Communication
Journal: Cyberpsychology : Journal of Psychological Research in Cyberspace
Volume: 15
No. of pages: 16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2021-3-3
Publication date: 2021
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 508007 Communication science
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Communication, General Psychology, Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/4e5e3c0e-f0f1-4aeb-adaa-9250dab87b32