Sexting Behaviours and Motives Questionnaire (del Rey, Ojeda, & Casas, 2021)

• Populations: Adolescents
• Age ranges: 12-18
• Languages: Spanish, English
• Countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Spain

Items

Subscales

• Sending: 6
• Reasons for sending: 9
• Victim of forwarding: 5
• Receiving: 6
• Forwarding: 4
• Reasons for Forwarding: 9

Items by Item Stem

 I’ve sent...

• suggestive or sexual text messages about myself to my partner/ex-partner
• suggestive or sexual videos or images of myself to my partner/ex-partner
• suggestive or sexual text messages about myself to somebody I fancied
• suggestive or sexual videos or images of myself to somebody I fancied
• suggestive or sexual text messages about myself to a friend
• suggestive or sexual videos or images of myself to a friend

If I’ve sent something, the reason was:

• To flirt with someone
• Because most people do it
• As a joke/to entertain myself
• Because it’s normal in dating relationships
• Because I was threatened/blackmailed
• Because I felt pressured by my partner or someone I fancied
• Because I felt pressured by my friends
• Because I thought it was a good idea or I looked attractive
•  Because I did it accidentally

If I’ve sent something, it has been forwarded or shared without my consent by:

• My girlfriend/ex-girlfriend or a girl I fancied
• My boyfriend/ex-boyfriend or a boy I fancied
• A male friend
• A female friend 
• Others

I’ve received...

• suggestive or sexual text messages about and from my partner/ex-partner
• suggestive or sexual videos or images about and from my partner/ex-partner
• suggestive or sexual text messages about and from somebody I fancied
• suggestive or sexual videos or images about and from somebody I fancied
• suggestive or sexual text messages about and from a friend
• suggestive or sexual videos or images about and from a friend

When received, I’ve forwarded or shared...

• suggestive or sexual text messages of other people
• suggestive or sexual videos or images of other people

If I’ve forwarded something, the reason was:

• Because our relationship had ended
•  To upset the person that appeared
• Out of jealousy
• To impress others
• As a joke/to entertain myself
• Because most people do it
• Because my friends pressured me to do it
• Because I had the consent of the person who appeared
• Because I did it accidentally

I’ve been forwarded....

• private suggestive or sexual text messages that other people had sent
• private suggestive or sexual videos or images that other people had sent

Responses

“Five response options [measure] behaviour frequency: 0 = never; 1 = less than once a month; 2 = monthly; 3 = weekly; and 4 = daily.”  (del Rey, Ojeda, & Casas, 2021)

Scoring

Higher score indicates higher frequency of construct of interest for all scales.

Citations

• del Rey, R., Ojeda, M., & Casas, J. A. (2021). Validation of the sexting behavior and motives questionnaire (SBM-Q). Psicothema, 33(2), 287-295. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2020.207
• Spanish version of items (not in initial report and thus not included here):
  https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.fi gshare.13625645 (del Rey, Ojeda, & Casas, 2021)
• Ojeda, M., Dodaj, A., Casas, J. A., Sesar, K., & Del Rey, R. (2025). Cross-cultural validation of the sexting behaviors and motives questionnaire (SBM-Q). Psicothema, 37(1), 60-70. https://doi.org/10.70478/psicothema.2025.37.07