ABSTRACT

It is well documented that social interactions have a crucial impact on all aspects of personal development for adolescents, however few studies have documented how social interactions affect a young person’s sense of sexual agency. The aim of the current qualitative study was to examine young people’s perceptions of their own sexual agency in relation to their social media attitudes and behaviors. Participants (n = 31) were recruited from a nonprofit organization and asked to complete a one-hour in-depth interview and a demographic survey. Using an inductive method, involving constant comparison, we identified four overarching themes: (a) Participants utilize different social media platforms for distinct purposes and are cognizant of each audience; (b) Based on past experiences, participants have negotiated and created their own rules of engagement for online behavior; (c) Participants have different expectations about how others should act online versus how they act in relation to flirty or sexual messages; (d) Participants were concerned about the authenticity of online identities and are aware of vulnerability in online interactions. Our results highlight the need for sexual health researchers to observe social network etiquette closely through the lens of autonomy and agency.

摘要

有据可查的是，社交互动对青少年个人发展的各个方面都有至关重要的影响，但是很少有研究记录社交互动如何影响年轻人的性代理感。当前定性研究的目的是检查年轻人对他们自己的性代理的看法与他们的社交媒体态度和行为的关系。参与者（n = 31）是从一家非营利组织招募的，并被要求完成一小时的深度访谈和人口统计调查。使用涉及不断比较的归纳方法，我们确定了四个总体主题：(a) 参与者出于不同目的使用不同的社交媒体平台，并了解每个受众；(b) 根据以往的经验，参与者已经协商并制定了自己的在线行为参与规则；(c) 参与者对于其他人在网上应该如何行为以及他们如何处理与性感或性信息相关的行为有不同的期望；(d) 参与者关注在线身份的真实性，并意识到在线互动中的脆弱性。我们的结果强调了性健康研究人员需要通过自主和代理的视角密切观察社交网络礼仪。