Table 2.
Multilevel Models of Relationship Satisfaction and Ambivalence Predicted by Sexting (Sending Sexy Messages vs. Sending Photos) and Attachment Avoidance and Anxiety
| Send sexy messages | Send nude or semi-nude photos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed effects | Model 1: Relationship satisfaction | Model 2: Relationship ambivalence | Model 3: Relationship satisfaction | Model 4: Relationship ambivalence |
| Intercept | 37.61*** | 1.59*** | 37.56*** | 1.58*** |
| Gender | 0.65 | −0.15 | 0.65 | −0.15 |
| Control variables | ||||
| Age | 0.002 | 0.003 | 0.02 | 0.005 |
| Family income | 0.004 | 0.001 | 0.0005 | 0.001 |
| Not Caucasian | 0.40 | 0.28 | 0.58 | 0.29 |
| Not college graduate | −0.36 | 0.05 | −0.39 | 0.06 |
| Multiple children | 0.37 | −0.09 | 0.43 | −0.07 |
| Marital status | −1.81 | 0.31 | −1.47 | 0.25 |
| Relationship length | −0.05 | 0.005 | −0.05 | 0.004 |
| Depressive symptoms | −0.03 | 0.02** | −0.03 | 0.02** |
| Coparenting quality | 4.71*** | −0.79*** | 4.98*** | −0.77*** |
| Texting frequency | 0.14 | 0.0005 | 0.04 | −0.002 |
| Frequency of sex | 0.22 | 0.05 | 0.25 | 0.06 |
| Sexting, attachment avoidance and anxiety, and interactions with gender | ||||
| Sexting | 0.39 | 0.04 | 0.56 | 0.27* |
| Avoidance | −2.08*** | 0.18** | −2.15*** | 0.18** |
| Anxiety | 0.20 | −0.03 | 0.06 | −0.02 |
| Sexting × gender | — | — | 1.09 | −0.22* |
| Avoidance × gender | — | — | — | — |
| Anxiety × gender | — | — | 0.43 | — |
| Sexting × avoidance | 0.31* | — | — | — |
| Sexting × anxiety | — | — | 1.46*** | — |
| Sexting × avoidance × gender | — | — | — | — |
| Sexting × anxiety × gender | — | — | −1.43** | — |
For interactions, the main effect is for women, and the interaction is the value to add to the main effect in order to get the effect for men. Nonsignificant interactions were trimmed and are marked with a —.
Control variables were coded as follows: gender (1 = “male,” 0 = “female”); not Caucasian (0 = “Caucasian,” 1 = “other race”); not college graduate (1 = “college grad.,” 0 = “less education than college grad.”); multiple children (1 = “multiple children,” 0 = “only one child in family”); and marital status (1 = ”living together, not married,” 0 = “married”). Except for the above-mentioned controls, all other variables were grand mean centered. Family income was in $10,000 units.
p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.