Sexting within young adults' dating and romantic relationships.

Sexting, herein defined as the sending of self-made sexually explicit images, is a modern-day form of sexual communication. This review discusses recent findings in sexting research among (young) adults. We find that despite its risks, sexting is increasingly used within dating and romantic relationships and can carry different meanings depending on the context in which the images are exchanged. Risks associated with sexting include pressure, experiences of unwanted sexting, unauthorized distribution, and coercion. Problematic forms of sexting can have significant consequences on the victims. We suggest the need for future research to make use of a uniform and nuanced measure of sexting and underscore the need to focus on adolescents as well as adults of all ages.

Analyzing College Students' Social Media Communication Apprehension.

Research has shown that college students are heavy users of social media. Yet, very little has looked at the connection between college students' social media use and communication apprehension (CA). Due to the shortage of research concerning CA and social media, this study aims to test the relationship between social media CA and introversion in relationship to social media use and social media addiction. To test these relationships, 396 undergraduate students were surveyed. The survey consisted of instruments used to measure the individuals' levels of social media use, social media addiction, introversion, and CA. After conducting multiple linear regressions, it was determined that there was a negative relationship between social media CA and introversion with (1) social media use and (2) social media addiction. Results indicated that social media CA was significantly related to social media addiction. These findings suggest that college students might gravitate toward social media to communicate rather than face-to-face communication.

Interpersonal Communication Motives for Flirting Face to Face and Through Texting.

The objective of this study was to investigate specific interpersonal communication motives that college students use to flirt through texting versus face to face (FtF). Four hundred college students (101 men, 299 women) were surveyed and reported using various communication motives to flirt using texting with a potential romantic partner. College students reported specific motives for flirting. Women reported flirting through text and FtF for pleasure motives significantly more than men, whereas men reported flirting for control and relaxation. In addition, men were more likely to flirt FtF for escape compared with women. Findings suggest that individuals are likely to flirt for pleasure if they are in a committed romantic relationship compared with those not in a committed relationship.