We explored how sexting (no sexting, sent only, received only, reciprocal) was associated with depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and compulsive sexual behaviors across sex and sexual identity groups. We also examined how substance use predicted sexting classifications. Data came from 2,160 college students living in the United States. Results indicated that 76.6 percent of the sample had engaged in sexting (primarily reciprocal). Participants who had engaged in sexting generally evidenced higher depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and compulsive sexual behaviors. Effect sizes were largest on compulsive sexual behavior indicators. Marijuana use was the only significant substance use predictor of reciprocal and "received only" sexting compared with no sexting. Illicit substance use (e.g., cocaine) was low base rate but descriptively was associated with sexting. Compulsive sexual behavior remained a robust positive correlate of sexting compared with non-sexting participants regardless of sex and sexual identity. Most other mental health indicators became nonsignificant correlates of sexting in nonheterosexual participants and were weak positive correlates in heterosexual participants. Marijuana use remained the only significant substance use predictor of reciprocal and "received only" sexting when adjusted for sex and sexual identity. We conclude that sexting is only weakly associated with depression, anxiety, and sleep problems but robustly associated with compulsive sexuality and marijuana use. These findings do not appear to vary meaningfully on the basis of sex or sexual identity, with the exception that the effect sizes between sexting and compulsive sexual behaviors were much stronger for females compared with males (regardless of sexual identity).

中文翻译：

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进一步了解性短信与心理健康之间的相关性：对性别和性认同的考虑。

我们探讨了性短信（无性短信、仅发送、仅接收、互惠）如何​​与跨性别和性身份群体的抑郁、焦虑、睡眠问题和强迫性行为相关联。我们还研究了物质使用如何预测色情短信分类。数据来自居住在美国的 2,160 名大学生。结果表明，76.6% 的样本进行过色情短信（主要是互惠）。参与过色情短信的参与者通常表现出更高的抑郁、焦虑、睡眠问题和强迫性行为。强迫性行为指标的效应量最大。与没有性短信相比，大麻使用是互惠和“仅收到”性短信的唯一重要物质使用预测因子。非法物质使用（例如，可卡因）的基础率很低，但描述性地与性短信有关。与非性短信参与者相比，无论性别和性身份如何，强迫性行为仍然与性短信有很强的正相关性。大多数其他心理健康指标与非异性恋参与者的性短信无关，而与异性恋参与者呈弱正相关。当针对性别和性身份进行调整时，大麻使用仍然是互惠和“仅收到”性短信的唯一重要物质使用预测因素。我们的结论是，性短信与抑郁、焦虑和睡眠问题的相关性很弱，但与强迫性行为和吸食大麻的相关性很强。这些发现似乎并没有因性别或性认同而发生有意义的变化，