Kontakt X:X | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2026.039

Sexting, unwanted online sexual solicitation, and internet-related anxiety among Slovak youthSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Filip Gerec ORCID...1, *, Jana Vallová ORCID...1, Lívia Hasajová ORCID...2, Slávka Krásna ORCID...3, Lenka Štefáková ORCID...4
1 St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work in Bratislava, Institute of Social Work and Nursing of MUDr. Pavol Blaha, Skalica, Slovak Republic
2 DTI University, Department of School Didactics, Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovak Republic
3 DTI University, Department of School Pedagogy and Psychology, Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovak Republic
4 Catholic University in Ružomberok, Faculty of Education, Department of Social Work, Ružomberok, Slovak Republic

Introduction: The digital environment poses new risks to young people, including sexting, unwanted online sexual solicitation, and the psychological strain associated with online victimisation.

Goal: To analyse the relationships between the frequency of sexting, the presence of strangers in online contact lists, the rate of unwanted online sexual solicitation, and anxiety while using the internet among Slovak youth.

Methods: A pilot cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 371 respondents from the Žilina Region (Slovak Republic). Respondents were recruited through convenience sampling in a school setting. Data were collected using a self-designed anonymous online questionnaire and analysed using Spearman's correlation, the Mann-Whitney U-test, and simple linear regression.

Results: A higher frequency of sexting was associated with a higher rate of unwanted online sexual solicitation. Respondents who had strangers in their list of online contacts reported a higher rate of unwanted online sexual solicitation than respondents without such contacts. Higher rates of unwanted online sexual solicitation were also associated with higher levels of anxiety while online and served as a significant predictor of it in the regression model.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of preventing online sexual victimisation, managing online contacts safely, and identifying signs of anxiety early on in preventive and counselling practice. Given the pilot and cross-sectional nature of the study, the results should be interpreted as a starting point for further empirical validation.

Keywords: Anxiety related to internet use; Online sexual solicitation; Online victimisation; Sexting; Youth
Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: March 12, 2026; Revised: May 10, 2026; Accepted: June 5, 2026; Prepublished online: June 16, 2026 

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