Sexting Behavior by Young Adults: The Correlation between Emotion Regulation and Moral Judgment

Young adults explore sexuality through social media, using smartphones to conduct their intimate social relationships. This includes sexting behaviors that may have negative repercussions, such as bullying or non-consensual dissemination of content. Our study examines the connections between emotion regulation, moral judgment, and sexting behavior (with instant messages) among young adults. We tested the research variables--sexting, emotional regulation, and moral judgment--in a sample population of 682 young Israeli adults, ages 18-25. The study's findings indicate that 45.9% of the sample population of young adults have sent sexual messages and 47.9% have received such messages. No disparities in sexting behavior were found between young men and young women. Higher use of sexting was found among those who were in an intimate relationship. Difficulty in emotion regulation was found to correlate with lower capacity for ethical/humane moral judgment, which in turn signaled a higher likelihood of sexting behavior.