A new survey has found that most people you know are sexting and their love lives are improving because of it. In fact, 82 percent (82%) of American adults have sexted in the past year.
Sexting, for those who don’t know, is a term used to describe mobile phone messages that contain sexually explicit texts or images (usually intimate photos of the person sending the message).
How many of the adults regretted sending this type of messages to their partner? None. Emily Stasko, study co-author and doctoral student in psychology from Drexel University, and Pamela A. Geller, study co-author and professor who runs Drexel University’s Women’s Health Psychology Lab, gave a statement informing that their study indicates “a robust relationship between sexting and sexual satisfaction”.
They went on to add that “Sexting is a prevalent behavior that adults engage in for a variety of reasons”.
It’s a surprising finding as an apparent majority (or at least a loud minority) seems to criticize sexting. But Stasko explained that “What’s missing in most of the discourse on sexting is pleasure”. She said that most of the studies have focused on young adults and teens, a context where there are many risks worth debating and worrying about.
But she also stressed that “there isn’t a large discussion about the role sexting plays for adults and in adult relationships”. Almost three (3) quarters, or 74 percent (74%), of the subjects in the survey reported that they’ve sent intimate messages to the person they were having a relationship with. And the more the couple sexted, the more sexual satisfaction they had.
For their survey, Stasko and professor Geller surveyed 870 heterosexual adults with the age between 18 and 82. They were asked to fill out an online survey with questions related to their sexting behavior. Almost 60 percent (60%) of the subjects were women, while 80 percent (80%) of the subjects were white.
When the research duo looked at the results, they saw that 82 percent (82%) of the subjects reported sexting in the past year, 88 percent (88%), or more than four in five (4 and 5), of them reported sexting at least once, at some point in their life, and 96 percent (96%) of them reported endorsing the practice.
What’s more, 74 percent (74%) of the subjects reported sexting with a person they were having a committed relationship with, 43 percent (43%) of the subjects reported sexting with a person they were having a casual relationship with, and 12 percent (12%) of the subjects reported sexting with a person they were having “a cheating relationship” with.
Almost three (3) quarters of the subjects reported sexting from their own home, while 30 percent (30%) of them reported sexting from work or while they were somewhere in the city.
The subjects who benefited the most from sexting were the ones who were having a casual relationship with their partner. Sending and receiving intimate messages landed itself to more sexual satisfaction.
There was no link between sexting and sexual satisfaction for people who were having a “very committed” relationship, however Patti Britton, clinical sexologist from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (San Francisco), gave a statement saying that she recommends sexting since it can help partners show desire for one another, and connect with one another.
The findings were presented at the end of last week, on Sunday (Augurs 9, 2015), at the 123rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (Toronto, Canada).
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