Sexuality and romantic relationships in the digital age / : Sexualité et les relations amoureuses à l'ère du numérique

Since we first started the Young Canadians in a Wired World research project in 2000, our research participants have consistently told us that networked media are an important way for them to connect with their peers and deepen their social relationships with family members and friends. When we launched Phase III of the research in 2011, the young people who participated in our focus group discussions told us that networked media have become an important way of learning about and participating in romantic relationships. The findings also revealed highly gendered patterns around behaviours like seeking out online pornography and sexting. To probe these issues further, we included a number of questions addressing sexuality and romantic relationships in our 2013 national survey. A total of 5,436 students in grades 4-11 from all provinces and territories across the country completed the survey. Some of the questions (including the questions about pornography and sexting) were only asked of students in grades 7-11. This report summarizes our findings.