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westHow Much Do We Know About Sexting Laws? Differences in Knowledge and Attitudes Between Young and Older Adults

Jun 7, 2024 10:06 AM - Jun 7, 2024 11:06 AM, Olcay Karatas, Criminal Justice and the Law, Section Presentation

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Although researchers argue that sexting sets one’s boundaries and contributes to one’s development, due to advances in technology, children in particular are more likely to be victimized by sexting as they get older. Today, these individuals, who are exposed to more victimization, also face the threat of being under many psychological and social pressures. Essentially, the term sexting refers to sharing sexual content such as photographs, messages, videos, and audio recordings using mobile environments such as phones, the internet, or social media applications (Lenhart, 2011). This term is defined as “added nonconsensual transmission, sending, or sharing” (Mori et al., 2020, p. 1104). On top of these legal issues, the images may be of a minor (Mitchell, 2012). State bills in the US have recognized the problems associated with sexting and have enacted laws specifically targeting this issue. Twenty states have passed laws against sexting, including Connecticut, Utah, Vermont, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Arizona, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, Hawaii, South Dakota, Pennsylvania and North Dakota (Kushner, 2013). Research focuses on measuring how knowledgeable/accurate participants are about legal sexting and their attitudes. The study design is a 2x2 factorial, between-person, non-repeated measures design. The independent variables are gender and age. This study is a follow-up to a preliminary study examining (domestic/international and gender). Results indicate that younger domestic and international female participants (M= 68. 0870, SD= 11.96655) and older domestic participants (M= 68.3000, SD= 9.83011) lacked knowledge about sexting laws. Both international and domestic young adults (M= 88. 8551, SD= 14. 16839) had more positive attitudes towards sexting compared to older domestic respondents (M= 98. 9333, SD= 15. 70621).