Dora Bianchi

Sexting, psychological distress and dating violence among adolescents and young adults

BACKGROUND Sexting is the exchange of sexually explicit or provocative content (text messages, photos, and videos) via smartphone, Internet, or social networks. Recent evidence enlightened its relationships with several risk and aggressive behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the amount of sexting, psychological distress, and dating violence in adolescents and young adults. METHOD The study involved 1,334 participants (68% females; mean age = 20.8) who completed a survey containing Kinsey Scale, Sexting Behavior Questionnaire, Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory, and General Health Questionnaire. RESULTS Results showed gender and sexual orientation differences: Males (vs. females) did more sexting, while non-heterosexuals (vs. heterosexuals) were more involved in sexting. Moreover, high/moderate users of sexting committed more offline and online dating violence. Regarding psychological distress, no differences were found between high and low/moderate users of sexting. CONCLUSIONS Results suggested that moderate and high use of sexting could be a risk factor for some problematic behaviors such as dating violence, even if there is not a relationship with anxiety and depression symptoms.

Not-allowed sharing of sexts and dating violence from the perpetrator's perspective

Several studies have found that coercive sexting increases the probability of being victimized within a dating relationship. Our study focused on the perpetrators perspective instead. It aimed to investigate the relationship between a specific sexting behavior, the sharing of someone elses sexts without his/her consent and dating violence perpetration. Specifically, we aimed to test the moderation role of benevolent and hostile sexism in this relationship. The study involved 715 Italian participants from 13 to 30 years of age (Mage?=?22.01; females: 71.7%), who completed a survey composed of socio-demographic data, the Sexting Behavior Scale, the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The results highlighted that, in the relationship between not-allowed sharing of sexts and dating violence perpetration, benevolent sexism could be a protective factor while, on the contrary, hostile sexism could be a risk factor, controlling for age, gender and sexual orientation. Our findings suggested the existence of a few factors linked to sexting behaviors: these factors could have implications for prevention programs. We investigate the relationship between sexting and dating violence perpetration.We test the moderation role of benevolent and hostile sexism in this relationship.Benevolent sexism is a protective factor in this relationship.Hostile sexism is a risk factor in this relationship.Prevention programs should focus on deconstructing gender stereotypes.

The cyber dating violence inventory. Validation of a new scale for online perpetration and victimization among dating partners

Abstract Cyber dating abuse is a new kind of dating violence. Several recent measures assess this phenomenon, but do not focus on a severe aggression that aims to spoil a partner’s relational network (relational cyber abuse). This study developed and validated the Cyber Dating Violence Inventory (CDVI) with 1405 adolescents and young adults (Mage = 18.17; SDage = 2.39; 65.1% females), an instrument that considers the relational dimension of online dating abuse. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses found two correlated factors (Psychological and Relational) for both perpetration and victimization, showing good reliability. CDVI factors were positively correlated with offline dating violence, showing good criterion validity. This instrument has clinical and educational implications.

How HEXACO Personality Traits Predict Different Selfie-Posting Behaviors among Adolescents and Young Adults

Selfies are self-portrait photos shared on Social Networks. Previous literature has investigated how personality traits, and specifically narcissism, are associated with selfie-posting behaviors. In this contribution we investigated how selfie-posting behaviors are predicted by the six HEXACO personality traits, controlling for age, gender and sexual orientation. The Kinsey scale, three questions about the frequency of own selfies, group selfies and selfies with partner, and 60-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised were administered to 750 young people from 13 to 30 years. Females, adolescents and not-exclusively heterosexual people posted more own selfies, and adolescents posted also more group selfies and selfies with partner. Moreover, lower Honesty/Humility, lower Conscientiousness, higher Emotionality and higher Extraversion significantly predict own selfies and group selfies. Finally, only lower Honesty/Humility and higher Emotionality predict selfies with partner. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Cognitive and affective empathy in binge drinking adolescents: Does empathy moderate the effect of self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink?

Binge drinking during adolescence is influenced by peer pressure and group norms as risk factors. Conversely, drinking refusal self-efficacy is a protective factor. Thus, adolescents with impaired social skills could be more vulnerable to binge drinking. However, there is still little research on impaired social abilities, such as low empathy, in adolescent binge drinkers. This study aimed to investigate the moderating roles of empathic concerns and perspective-taking in the relationship between self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink (SRPPD) and binge drinking. Participants were 188 Italian adolescents (Mage = 16.93, SDage = 0.76; age-range: 15-19). Self-report instruments were administered. Binge drinking was evaluated with an open response item according to the clinical definition of symptoms; SRPPD was assessed with an item from the Perceived Self-Efficacy scale; empathic concerns and perspective-taking were measured with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index scale. A moderation regression analysis was run. Results showed that binge drinking is positively predicted by age, and negatively predicted by SRPPD and empathic concerns. Only perspective-taking proved to be a moderator in the relationship between SRPPD and binge drinking. In the presence of low perspective-taking, adolescents with low SRPPD reported more binge drinking than adolescents with high SRPPD. Conversely, for adolescents with high levels of perspective-taking, low SRPPD did not predict binge drinking. Our results shed light on patterns of cognitive and affective empathy in binge drinking adolescents, providing relevant implications for research and prevention for at-risk teenagers.

Relationship with Parents, Emotion Regulation, and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Adolescents’ Internet Addiction

The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of relationship with parents, emotion regulation, and callous-unemotional traits with Internet addiction in a community sample of adolescents. Self-report measures of relationship with parents (both mothers and fathers), emotion regulation (in its two dimensions: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), callous- unemotional traits (in its three dimensions: callousness, uncaring, and unemotional), and Internet addiction were completed by 743 adolescents aged 10 to 21 years. Results showed that a low perceived maternal availability, high cognitive reappraisal, and high callousness appeared to be predictors of Internet addiction. The implications of these findings are then discussed.

Quando il Sexting diventa una forma di violenza? Motivazioni al sexting e dating violence nei giovani adulti

Con Internet la dating violence ha iniziato ad avvenire anche online. Gli studi mostrano che il sexting, ossia lo scambio di immagini sessuali tramite Internet, e correlato a perpetrazione e vittimizzazione di dating violence. Questo studio ha indagato in un campione di giovani adulti tra i 18 e 27 anni quali motivazioni al sexting portano a vittimizzazione e perpetrazione di dating violence. Due analisi della regressione gerarchica hanno mostrato che solo le motivazioni strumentali/aggravate portano a vittimizzazione, beta =.18, p =.01, e a perpetrazione, beta = .17, p = .02, di dating violence. I risultati confermano la presenza di due diversi tipi di sexting, sperimentale e aggravato, le cui implicazioni cliniche ed educative vengono esaminate a fondo.